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Sciences 

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23  WIST  MAIN  STRIET 

WIBSTER.N.Y.  14SS0 

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Series. 


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Collection  de 
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Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  IVIicroraproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreprodUctions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquaa  at  bibliographiquas 


Tha  Instituta  has  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturas  of  this 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagas  in  tha 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


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Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


Couverture  endommagte 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  at/ou  palliculAe 


I      I   Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


|~~]    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 


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I     I   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


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Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relii  avac  d'autres  documents 

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II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutAes 
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Commentaires  suppldmentaires: 


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une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
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sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


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D 
D 


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Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagAes 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur^as  et/ou  pelliculAes 

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Pages  dAcolortes,  tacheties  ou  piquias 

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The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
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■     Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columliia 

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filming  contrect  specifications. 


L'exemplaire  film4  f ut  reproduit  grice  A  la 
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Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 

Les  images  suhrantes  ont  AtA  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin.  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetA  de  I'exempleire  f llmA.  et  en 
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Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
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the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  beck  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
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first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  lest  page  with  a  printed 
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HISTORICAL  COLLECTIONS 


Of 


LOUISIANA, 


XUBKAODIO  TBANBLATIONS  OV 


MANT  RARE  AND  VALUABLE  DOCUMENTS 


BBLATINO  TO  IBS 


NATURAL,  CIVII^  AND  POLITICAL 


HISTORY   OF  THAT  STATE, 


OOUFILED  WITH 


HISTORICAL  AND  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES, 


AND  AN 


INTRODUCTION, 


ay 


"^ 


B.   F.   FRENCH, 

Member  cf  the  Louisiana  Historical  Society;  of  the  American  Association  for  the 

Advancement  of  Science ;  Honorary  Member  of  the  Historical  Society  of 

Pennsylvania;  Corresponding  Member  cf  the  Academy  of 

Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia ;  of  the  Huitorical 

Society  ot' New  York ;  etc ,  etc. 


PART  IV. 


REDFIELD, 

CLINTON  HALL,  NEW  YORK. 

1852. 


I 


DISCOTERY  AND  EXPLORATION 


OF   THK 


MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY: 


WITH 


THE  OKIGINAL  NAERATIYES  OF  MAEQUETTE, 

ALLOUEZ,  MEMBRE,  HENNEPIN,  AND 

ANASTASE  DOUAY. 


m 


JOHN  GILMARY   SHEA. 


vrrra  a  facsdiilb  of  the  nkwlt-discovkred  map  of  marqitkitk. 


REDFIELD, 

CLINTON    HALL,    NEW    YORK. 
1852. 


32410 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1862, 

By  J.  a  KEDFIELD, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  in  and  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


STIREOTVPED  BY  C.  C.  8AVA0X, 
13  Chiunbcn  Stmt,  N.  T. 


TO 


J  A  RED    SPARKS,   LL.D. 


PEE8IDENT  OF    HABVABD    UNIVEE8ITY, 


^liifi  Mmt  ifl  inmM, 


AS  A  MAEK  OF  PERSONA.  AEGAED, 


By  the  Authob. 


-./      "■  .  *■ 


PREFACE. 


It  has  long  been  a  desideratum  to  liave  in  English  the 
early  narratives  of  the  discovery  and  exploration  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Marqnette's  map  and  voyage  have  indeed  appeared, 
but  the  narrative  varies  in  no  small  degree  from  the  authentic 
manuscript,  and  the  map  is  not  at  all  a  copy  of  that  still  pro- 
served,  as  it  came  from  the  hand  of  the  great  explorer. 
These  published  from  original  manuscripts,  and  accompanied 
by  the  narratives  of  the  missionaries  in  La  Salle's  expedition, 
are  now  first  presented  in  an  accessible  shape,  and  complete 
the  annals  of  the  exploration. 

The  life  of  Marquette,  and  the  history  of  the  exploration 
itself,  are  the  result  of  many  years  study  of  the  early  Spanish 
and  French  authorities,  both  printed  and  manuscript,  some  of 
which  have  never  before  been  consulted. 

Besides  my  own  researches,  I  have  been  aided  by  those  of 
the  President  of  St.  Mary's  College,  and  of  the  Hon.  James 
Viger,  of  Montreal,  and  I  trust  that  the  volume  will  be  found 
to  be  as  faithful  as  the  subject  is  interesting. 

New  York,  Sept.,  1852.  J.  G.  S. 


1 1 
1 1 


li.i 

I'm 

!ii 

1  , 


I 


i| 


CONTENTS. 

History  of  tho  Discovery  of  the  Miaoissippi  Valley faoi  vU 

life  of  Father  James  Marquette,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  first  explorer  of  the 
Mississippi xli 

Notice  on  the  sieur  Jolliet Ixxix 

Notice  on  Father  Claudius  Dablon 2 

Voyages  and  Discoveries  of  Father  James  Marquette,  of  the  Society  of  Je- 
sus, in  1673,  and  the  following  years  8 

Notice  on  Father  Claude  AUouez 67 

Narrative  of  a  Voyage  made  to  the  Illinois,  by  Father  Claude  Allouez 67 

Bibliographical  Xotice  of  the  Etabliuement  de  la  Foi  of  Father  Christian  le 

Clercq,  Recollect 78 

Narrative  of  La  Salle's  first  attempt  to  explore  the  Mississippi,  by  Father  le 

Clercq 88 

Bibliographical  Notice  of  the  Works  of  Father  Louis  Hennepin 99 

Narrative  of  a  Voyage  to  the  Upper  Mississippi,  by  Father  Louis  Hennepin.  107 

Notice  on  Father  Zenobius  Membr6 147 

Narrative  of  the  Adventures  of  La  Salle's  Party,  from  Februory,  1680,  to 
June,  1681,  by  Father  Membr6 147 

Narrative  of  La  Salle's  Voyage  down  the  Mississippi,  by  the  same 16S 

Account  of  La  Snlle's  Attempt  to  reach  the  Mississippi  by  sea,  by  Father 
Christian  le  Clercq 185 

Narrative  of  La  Snlle's  Attempt  to  ascend  the  Mississippi,  in  1687,  by  Father 
Anastasius  Douay ig7 

Spanish  account  of  the  Destruction  of  La  Salle's  Fort  in  Texas 208 

Appendix. 

Recit  des  Voyages  et  des  d£couvertes  du  P.  Jacques  Marquette,  Ac 281 

Unfinished  Letter  of  Father  James  Marquette,  containing  his  last  journal . .  268 

La  Salle's  Patent  of  Nobility 266 

La  Salle's  Second  Commission 267 

Comparative  Table  of  the  names  on  the  Map  published  by  Thevenot,  and 
Marquette's  real  Map 268 


AOt  Vll 

tie 

, . 

xU 

.  .Ixxix 

•  • 

2 

le- 

•  • 

8 

•  • 

«7 

•  •  • 

t1 

lie 

•  •  • 

78 

rle 

•  •  • 

88 

•  ■  • 

99 

tin. 

107 

•  •  • 

147 

.to 

•  •  • 

147 

.  •  • 

165 

bhei 

185 

Iher 

•  • 

107 

•  • 

.  208 

.  281 

il. 

.  268 

1  •  • 

.  266 

■  •  • 

.  267 

and 

HISTORY 

OF   THE 

DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 


ON  glancing  at  a  map  of  America,  we  are  at  onco  struck 
by  the  mighty  river  Mississippi,  which,  with  its  count- 
less branches,  gathers  the  waters  of  an  immense  valley,  and 
rolls  its  accumulated  floods  to  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  affording  a 
line  of  uninteri'upted  communication  for  thousands  of  miles, 
which  has  in  our  day  peopled  its  banks  with  flourishing 
towns  and  cities.  So  large  a  stream,  so  important  a  means 
of  entering  the  heart  of  the  continent,  could  not,  it  would  be 
supposed,  long  remain  unknown — or,  known,  remain  unap- 
preciated :  yet  so,  in  fact,  it  was. 

Columbus  himself  entered  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  but  the 
southern  coast  only  was  explored  by  the  discoverer  of  the 
New  World.  By  whom  the  northern  shore  was  first  explored 
we  do  not  know ;  but  it  is  laid  down  with  considerable  accu- 
racy in  an  edition  of  Ptolemy  printed  at  Venice  in  1613. 
This  map  is  the  more  remarkable  as  the  delta  of  a  river  cor- 
responding to  the  Mississippi  is  traced  upon  it  more  distinctly 
than  in  the  maps  of  the  next  century.  Several  adventurers 
now  sailed  along  the  northern  or  Florida  shore,  till  it  was 


i- 


Hi   ; 


'I 


1  ;i. 
1,1 


!<   -1 


I'l  H! 


viii 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DISCOVERT 


completely  examined  by  Garay  in  1618.  Three  years  later, 
a  map  was  drawn  up  by  the  arbitrator  app  'nted  to  decide 
between  the  claims  of  rival  discoverers,  and  on  it  we  find  the 
Mississippi  again  traced  on  the  part  assigned  as  peculiarly 
•Garay's,  and  on  it  the  name  it  subsequently  bore,  Eio  del 
Espiritu  Santo,  or  River  of  the  Holy  Ghost.* 

Several  expeditions  were  now  fitted  out  to  explore  and 
reduce  the  realms  of  Florida.  Brilliant,  daring,  and  adven- 
turous attempts  they  were,  and  give  the  time  that  hue  of 
chivalry  which  almost  makes  us  forget  the  crimes  which 
marked  it — crime^  magnified  and  distorted  indeed  by  for- 
eign writers,  but  still  coolly  and  (  spassionately  examined 
crimes  that  we  must  condemn.f  It  ^as  the  last  age  of  the 
political  freedom,  of  the  nicely-poise     balance  between  the 


*  Tlicse  facts  and  the  iliaps  are  to  be  foxmd  in  a 
■wrecks  of  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca,"  printed  f 
ington,  in  1851,  for  Geo.  W.  Riggs,  jr.    The  tram 

f  It  is  not  so  much  the  cruelty  horc  as  th( 
our  modern  taste.  That  was  an  age  of  cruelty 
guerilla  wars  with  tiie  early  Moors,  was  necessu.  - 


English  Tersion  of  the  "Ship- 
private  distribution  at  Wash- 
tor  is  Mr.  Buckingham  Smith, 
v^antonness  of  it  that  shocks 
The  Spaniard,  from  his  long 
a  man  used  to  blood:  and 


wlien  the  Reformation  came,  and  the  new  religionists  sprang  at  the  rich  plunder 
of  the  churches,  those  who  adhered  to  old  ideas  clung  to  them  with  desperation ; 
and  when  deprived  of  th'^m,  unable  to  retaliate  on  the  church  property  of  their 
antagonists  who  had  none,  vented  their  rnge  on  their  spoilers  themselves.  In 
countries  where  the  advocate*  of  th?  new  ideas  had  not  entered,  the  example  of 
what  had  occurred  elsewhere  taught  the  old-idea  party  to  prevent  their  entrance 
at  all  hazard,  if  they  wished  to  worship  at  the  shrines  raised  by  their  ancestors. 
Had  they  been  angels,  they  mighi  have  been  mild ;  but  they  were  men,  and 
necessarily  cruel,  and  the  retaliations  were  so  too.  The  sixteenth  century,  then, 
is  marked  by  constant  scenes  of  blood,  not  only  in  America,  but  in  Europe,  and 
only  bigots  would  attempt  to  represent  any  one  case  as  isolated  and  build  a  the- 
ory on  it  In  this  nge,  and  from  this  very  cruelty,  the  English  and  French 
navies  rose;  both  were  in  their  origin  piratical  flotillas,  which  lived  by  plunder- 
ing the  Spanish  main  and  the  rich  argosies  which  were  crossing  to  Cadiz. 
Even  these  bore  a  religious  appearance,  for  the  mariners,  not  only  of  England 
but  of  France,  at  the  time  professed  a  horror  of  the  religion  of  the  Spaniard, 
equalled  only  by  theii  love  for  his  gold.  In  fact,  it  is  not  easy  to  express  now 
all  that  a  Spaniard,  on  terra  firma  or  the  Spanish  main,  comprised  in  that  fearful 
word  "herege." 


^ 


OP  THE  MISSISSIPPI  BIVER. 


ix 


i 


I 


i 


ruler  and  the  ruled.  Not  j'et  had  the  world  been  startled  by 
the  extremes  of  a  claim  of  divine  right  in  the  person  of  the 
monarch,  and  annual  revolutions  in  the  name  of  the  people. 
The  Spaniard  was  the  freest  man  in  Europe :  the  various  pow- 
ers of  the  state,  still  unbroken,  maintained  on  each  other  that 
salutary  check  which  prevents  all  tyranny.  The  time  was 
yet  when  the  tutor  of  the  heir-apparent  of  the  Spanish  crown 
could  inculcate  on  his  pupil  the  doctrine  that  a  tyrant  might 
be  put  to  death ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  people  were 
taught  that  religion  required  their  obedience  to  the  ruling 
.  powers,  with  submission  and  support  from  which  only  extreme 
cases  could  absolve  them.* 

Besides  this,  "  many  circumstances  concurred  at  this  epoch 
of  overwrought  excitement,  violence,  and  a  mania  for  discov- 
ery by  land  and  sea,  to  favor  individuality  of  character,  and  ena- 
ble some  highly-gifted  mind  to  develop  noble  germs  drawn  from 
the  depth  of  feeling.  They  err,"  says  Humboldt,  "  who  be- 
lieve that  the  Spanish  adventurers  were  incited  by  mere  love 
of  gold  and  religious  fanaticism.  Perils  always  exalt  the  po- 
etry of  life;  and  besides,  this  remarkable  age,  unfolding  as  it 
did  new  worlds  to  men,  gave  every  enterprise  and  the  natural 
impressions  awakened  by  distant  travels,  the  charm  of  nov- 
elty and  surprise." 

Leon,  Cordova,  and  Ayllon,  had  successively  found  death 
on  the  shores  of  Florida ;  but  the  si^rit  of  the  age  was  not 
damped  :  in  1528,  Pamphilus  de  Narvaez  undertook  to  con- 
quer and  colonize  the  whole  northern  coast  of  the  gulf.  He 
landed,  and,  after  long  and  fruitless  marches,  returned  to  the 
coast,  and  in  wretched  boats  endeavored  to  reach  Tampico. 
Almost  all  perished :  storms,  disease,  and  famine,  swept  them 


*  Mariana's  De  Rege  Tyranno  was  written  for  a  Spanish  prince. 


I 


;3! 


Hi 

111 


I' 

I 

iii 

I  HI 


ii  '  1^ 


It  ' 
li'.t 


X  HISTORY  OF  THE  DISCOVEKT 

away,  and  the  coast  was  whitened  with  their  bleaching 
bones.  A  few  with  Cabeza  de  Vaca  were  thrown  on  an 
island  on  the  coast  of  Mississippi.  After  four  years'  slavery^ 
De  Vaca  escaped  and  struck  inland  with  four  companions. 
Taken  for  supernatural  beings,  they  became  the  medicine- 
men of  the  tribes  through  which  they  passed,  and,  with  as 
little  difficulty  as  the  Indian  jugglers,  established  their  repu- 
tation. With  lives  thus  guarded  by  superstitious  awe,  they 
rambled  across  to  the  gulf  of  California,  traversing  the  bison- 
plains  and  the  adobe  towns  of  the  half-civilized  natives  of 
New  Mexico,  perched  on  their  rocky  heights.  De  Vaca  is  the 
first  known  to  have  traversed  our  territory  from  sea  to  sea. 
In  this  long  wandering,  he  inust  have  reached  and  crossed 
the  Mississippi ;  but  we  in  vain  examine  his  narrative  for 
something  to  distinguish  it  from  any  other  large  river  that  he 
met.  He  remains  then  in  history,  in  a  distant  twilight,  as 
the  first  European  known  to  have  stood  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  to  have  launched  his  boat  upon  its  waters ; 
but  his  "  shipwrecks"  shed  no  new  light  on  its  history.* 

When  he  and  his  companions  suddenly  appeared  amid 
their  countrymen  in  Mexico,  their  strange  accounts,  and  an 
air  of  mysterious  secresy  which  they  afi^ected,  gave  a  new 
impulse  to  the  adventurous  spirit  of  the  age.  In  the  spring 
of  1539,  two  attempts  were  made  to  reach  the  realm  in  the 
interior,  which  De  Vaca  had  protested  to  be  "  the  richest 
country  in  the  world."  One  of  these  expeditions  started  from 
the  Pacific,  the  other  from  the  Atlantic.  The  former  was  led 
by  the  Franciscan  friar  Mark,  a  native  of  Nice  in  Italy,  who, 
burning  with  a  desire  of  conquering  for  Christ  the  many 
tribes  within,  set  out  with  a  negro  companion  of  De  Vaca's 

*  De  Yttca's  nnrrntive  in  Spanish  is  in  Barcin's  collection,  and  in  French  in 
that  of  Ternaux-Compans. 


OF  TUB  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 


from  Culiacan,  and  crossing  the  desert  wastes,  reached  the 
Colorado;  but  after  gazing  from  a  commanding  height  en  the 
embattled  towers  of  Cibola,  with  its  houses  rising  story  above 
story,  and  its  gateways  so  well  glazed  that  they  seemed 
masses  of  turquoise,  returned  with  baffled  hopes,  for  tlie  na- 
tives had  refused  him  entrance,  and  actually  cut  off  his  negro 
guide  and  a  large  party  of  friendly  Indians.  Friar  Mark,  on 
bis  return,  raised  the  hopes  of  the  Spanish  authorities  still 
higher,  and  his  statements,  apparently  true  in  themselves,  were 
so  understood  by  the  excited  imaginations  of  all,  as  to  leave 
impressions  far  from  the  reality.  An  ideal  kingdom  rose  into 
existence,  and  a  new  expedition  was  projected.  This  reached 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi ;  but  before  we  trace  its  course, 
we  must  go  back  to  the  Atlantic  expedition  of  1539.* 

It  was  commanded  by  the  successful  Ferdinand  de  Soto, 
who  had  risen  by  the  conquest  of  Peru  to  rank  and  wealth, 
aud  was  now  governor  of  the  rich  island  of  Cuba.  With  a 
force  far  superior  to  any  that  had  yet  landed  on  the  continent, 
he  entered  Florida,  and,  with  his  gallant  array,  struck  into 
the  unknown  interior.  The  Mississippi,  under  the  name  of 
Espiritu  Santo,  was  not  unknown  to  him ;  for,  after  proceed- 
ing westward  and  turning  slightly  northeast  to  Hurripacuxi  — 
after  striking  westward  to  Eteocale,  whose  heroes  wore  (the 
natives  said)  helmets  of  burnished  gold — after  carrying,  by 
stubborn  fight,  the  gallant  town  of  Napetuca — after  pressing 
or.  through  Ivetachuco,  fired  like  another  Moscow  by  its 
dauntless  people  —  after  reaching  Anaica  Apalache, — ho 
sent  Maldonado  back  to  Havana,  with  orders  to  meet  him  in 
six  months  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.! 

*  The  narrative  of  Friar  Mark  is  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Narrative  of  Cnsta- 
fledo  de  Najera,  published  by  Ternaux.  It  deserves  to  be  read,  for  it  is  not  bo 
much  a  fiction  as  is  generally  supposed. 

f  Historical  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  ii.,  p.  99. 


.III 


1' 

II 

i!   ;. 


"|| 


lIlM 
'Mil 


I ! 


'8; 


(    I 
'      Ml 

III 


zu 


s 


HISTORY   OF  THE  DISCOVERT 


Here  began  his  second  campaign ;  lured  by  the  glittering 
promises  of  an  Indian  guide,  he  marched  to  the  northeast, 
crossing  the  Altamaha,  and  perhaps  entered  the  territory  of 
Carolina,  a  land  full  of  remembrances  of  Ayllon.  Weaiy 
with  a  march  of  twelve  himdred  miles,  his  men  were  fain  to 
settle  there;  but  no,  on  they  must  go,  and  turning  northward, 
he  traversed  unconsciously  the  golden  sands  of  the  Cha- 
laques,  with  a  heavy  heart,  for  it  was  poor  in  maize.  At  last 
he  reached  a  great  river  by  the  western  coni*se,  and  with  his 
mind  still  full  of  great  hopes  from  the  river  of  Espiritu  Santo, 
he  took  the  Coosa  for  the  Mississippi,  and  traced  it  to  its 
source,*  then  following  down  its  gentle  cnrrent,  crossing  as 
villages  invited  him,  he  reached  Mavila  to  waste  the  lives 
and  property  of  his  men  in  a  terrible  contest  with  the  gigan- 
tic Tnscalosa,  the  chieftain  of  the  land.  Here  any  but  the 
resolute  Soto  would  have  renounced  his  schemes,  and  joined 
his  vessels  in  Pensacola  bay ;  but  no,  though  winter  was 
coming  on,  he  marched  north,  fighting  his  way  across  river 
after  river  to  the  heart  of  the  Chickasaw  country,  and  win- 
tered there,  although  they,  too,  burned  their  village  in  which 
the  invaders  were  quartered ;  thence  he  marehed  northwest 
to  the  country  of  the  Alibamons,  who  threw  up  a  palisade 
entrenchment  to  prevent  his  passage.  With  considerable 
loss  De  Soto  carried  it,  and  captured  corn  enough  to  carry 
him  across  the  desert  land  to  Quizquiz,  and  here  at  last  he 
really  came  to  the  long-sought  Hio  del  Espiritu  Santo.  It 
was  the  Mississippi.  Here  all  doubt  vanislies.  Listen  to  the 
characteristic  description  of  the  most  detailed  narrative. 
"The  river,"  says  the  unknown  Portuguese,  "was  almost 
half  a  league  broad  ;  if  a  man  stood  still  on  the  other  side,  it 
co.uld  not  be  discerned  whether  he  was  a  man  or  no.    The 

*  Historical  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  ii.,  p.  101. 


k 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  BIYER. 


xm 


river  was  of  great  depth,  and  of  a  strong  current ;  the  water 
was  always  muddy ;  there  came  down  the  river  continually 
many  trees  and  timber,  which  the  force  of  the  water  and 
stream  brought  down."*  And  the  inhabitants  were  not  un- 
worthy of  the  great  river.  "The  cacique  came  with  two 
hundred  canoes  full  of  Indians  with  their  bows  and  arrows, 
painted,  with  great  plumes  of  white  and  many-colored 
feathera,  with  shields  in  their  hands,  wherewith  they  de- 
fended the  rowel's  on  both  sides,  and  the  men  of  war  stood 
from  the  head  to  the  stern,  with  their  bows  and  arrows  in 
their  hands.  The  canoe  wherein  the  cacique  sat,  had  a  can- 
opy over  the  stern,  and  he  sat  beneath  it,  and  so  were  the 
other  canoes  of  the  principal  Indians.  And  from  under  the 
canopy  where  the  chief  man  sat,  he  commanded  and  gov- 
erned the  other  people. 

From  the  frequent  mention  of  the  river  in  Biedma's  nar- 
rative we  may  infer  that  allusion  to  it  was  suppressed,  or  at 
most,  mysteriously  made  by  De  Vaca,  and  that  it  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  key  to  his  land  of  gold.  Certain  it  is,  that 
their  hopes  seem  here  to  brighten  ;  they  build  boats,  the  first 
European  craft  to  traverse  the  river,  and  crossed  to  the  west- 
ern side  some  twenty  or  thirty  miles,  as  modern  investiga- 
tors tell  us,  below  the  mouth  of  tl)e  Arkansas.f 

The  country  now  reached  by  the  Spaniards,  was  one  of 
large  and  populous  towns,  well  defended  by  walls  and 
towers,  pierced  with  regular  loop-holes,  and  surrounded  by 
well-made  ditches.  De  Soto  ascended  the  river,  and  striking 
on  a  higher,  drier,  and  more  champaign  country  than  he  had 
yet  seen,  proceeded  onward  to  Pacaha,  a  place  it  would  not 
be  easy  now  to  locate.    The  Mississippi  was  thus  explored 


•  Historical  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  ii.,  p.  168. 

f  See  the  opinions  collected  in  Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  6L 


XIV 


HISTORY   OF  TUB  DI8C0VEKT 


H 


I 

f 


m 

Ii!5  "i 

lljtl 


■ 


\t 


(i;i 


for  a  considerable  distance ;  but  fur  other  than  commercial 
or  colonial  projects  filled  the  mind  of  De  Soto ;  he  stood  hj 
what  he  knew  an  outlet  to  the  sea,  a  great  artery  of  the  con- 
tinent, but  his  splendid  array  had  dwindled  down,  and  the 
rich  realm  of  De  Vaca  had  not  yet  rewarded  his  many  toils. 
Nerved  by  despair,  ho  marched  northeast  till  he  found  himself 
among  the  wandering  Indians  of  the  plains,  with  their  portable 
cabins.  This  was  his  highest  point,  and  could  not  have  been 
far  from  the  Missouri.  He  then  turned  southwest  again  to  the 
Arkansas,  at  the  large  town  of  Quigata,  to  seek  guides  to  lead 
them  to  the  southern  sea ;  but  Ooligoa  beyond  the  mountains 
tempted  him  to  the  northwest  again ;  yet  Coligoa  ill-repaid  their 
toil;  it  was  poorer  than  the  well-built  towns  they  had  left 
behind.  Striking  west  and  southwest  again,  he  seems  to  have 
once  more  reached  the  Arkansas  at  Cayas,  and  ascended  it 
to  the  town  of  Tanico,  with  its  lake  of  hot  water  and  saline 
marshes.  Turning  then  to  the  south  and  east,  he  again  reached 
Yicanque  also  on  the  Arkansas,  and  wintering  there,  descend- 
ed it  in  the  spring  of  1542  to  die  on  the  banks  of  the  Missis- 
sippi ;  after  having  thus  explored  the  valley  of  the  Arkansas, 
and  examined  its  inhabitants,  who,  from  the  scanty  notices 
we  Itave,  seem  quite  different  from  those  afterward  found 
there,  and  apparently  an  offshoot  of  the  New  Mexican  tribes.* 
De  Soto  was  now  dead,  the  expedition  was  abandoned, 
the  only  object  was  to  leave  the  fatal  country.  Muscoso, 
their  new  leader,  despaired  of  reaching  the  gulf  by  the 
Mississippi,  and  struck  westward  in  hopes  of  reaching  New 
Spain,  as  De  Vaca  had  done.  In  this  western  march  of  over 
seven  hundred  miles,  he  explored  a  considerable  part  of  the 
valley  of  the  Red  river,  passing  by  the  tribes  which  were  not 

•  In  confining  these  rambles  of  De  Soto  to  the  valley  of  the  Arkansas,  I  am 
not  alone;  see  M'CullocKa Reaearchet,  pp.  629,  631,  cited  by  Bancroft 


■S 


■§ 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  BIVEB. 


XV 


lam 


expelled  or  exterminated  when  the  country  was  ultimately 
explored  by  the  French.    Nazacahoz,  in  the  province  of  Gu- 
asco,  was  the  most  westerly  town  in  their  march.     Here  they 
found  turquoises,  pottery,  and  cotton  mantles  from  New  Mex- 
ico, and  even  an  Indian  woman  who  had  escaped  from  the 
Pacific  expedition,  of  which  we  shall  next  speak.    From  her 
statement,  and  the  account  given  by  the  Indians  of  the  large 
river  of  Daycao  to  the  west,  they  marched  ten  days  more, 
and  crossing  this  river,  probably  the  Pecos  branch  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  found  themselves  in  the  country  of  the  roving  tribes. 
Disheartened  at  the  prospect  before  him,  Muscoso  returned 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  ascending  above  Guachoya  where  De 
Soto  had  died,  entered  at  Aminoya,  and  working  up  all  their 
chains  and  iron  into  nails,  began  to  build  vessels  to  navigate 
the  Mississippi.     The  place  where  these   first  brigantines 
were  built,  has  not  been  clearly  settled,  its  Indian  name 
Aminoya  has  left  no  trace.    Here  "  seven  brigantines  were 
constructed,  well  made,  save  that  the  planks  were  thin,  be- 
cause the  nails  were  short,  and  were  not  pitched,  nor  had 
any  decks  to  keep  the  water  from  coming  in.    Instead  of 
decks,  they  laid  planks,  whereon  the  mariners  might  run  to 
trim  their  sails,  and  the  people  might  refresh  themselves 
above  and  below."    They  were  finished  in  June,  and  "it 
pleased  God  that  the  flood  came  up  to  the  town  to  seek  the 
brigantines,  from  whence  they  carried  them  by  water  to  the 
river."    Thus  three  hundred  and  twenty-two  Spaniards  sailed 
from  Minoya  on  the  2d  of  July,  1543,  and  passing  Guachoya, 
were  attacked  by  the  people  of  Quigalta,  who  pursued  them 
for  many  days,  and  did  considerable  harm  to  the  little  fleet. 
At  last,  however,  on  the  eighteenth  day  they  reached  the 
gulf  of  Mexico,  after  having  sailed,  as  they  computed,  two 
hundred  and  fifty  leagues  down  the  river.    Thence,  after 


xri 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DISCOVERY 


i| 


I  I'll!     1 


many  dangers  and  hardships,  the  survivors  coasting  along 
reached  Tampico,  "  whereat  the  viceroy  and  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Mexico  wondered,"  says  the  chronicle.* 

Such  is,  in  brief,  the  history  of  the  Mississippi  as  explored 
by  Do  Soto,  and  his  successor,  Muscoso,  the  first  who  sailed 
"Down  the  great  river  to  the  opening  gulf." 

The  account  they  gave  received  additional  confirmation 
from  the  second  expedition  of  Father  Mark's  from  the  Pacific 
coast.  This  expedition  commanded  by  Coronado,  and  guided 
by  the  adventurous  missionary,  reached  and  took  Cibola,  which 
proved  of  little  value.  Ascending  the  Colorado,  the  com- 
mander left  its  valley  and  crossed  the  Rio  Grande  in  search 
ofQuivira;  a  faithless  guide  promised  him  gold  in  all  abun- 
dance, and  others  as  faithless  now  led  him  up  and  down  the 
prairies  watered  by  the  upper  branches  of  the  Arkansas  and 
Platte.  He  was  thus  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  former  river, 
in  1542,  at  the  time  when  Muscoso  heard  of  him  by  his  run- 
away slave ;  but  neither  trusted  the  accounts  which  he  re- 
ceived and  they  did  not  meet.  At  Tiguex  before  lie  reached 
the  Rio  Grande,  Coronado  had  found  a  "Florida  Indian" 
whose  description  of  the  Mississippi  tallies  quite  well  with 
with  that  of  the  gentleman  of  Elvas.  "This  river  in  his 
country,"  he  said, "  was  two  leagues  wide,  and  that  they  found 
fish  in  it  as  large  as  horses,  and  that  they  had  on  it  canoes 
which  could  hold  twenty  rowers  on  each  side  :  and  that  tho 
lords  sat  at  the  stern  under  a  canopy ."f  At  the  Rio  Grande, 
too,  Coronado  heard  from  the  Querechos,  or  roving  Indians 
of  the  plains,  "that  marching  toward  the  rising  sun,  he 
should  meet  a  very  great  river,  the  banks  of  which  he  could 

*  For  an  account  of  De  Soto's  expedition,  see  Biedma's  narrative,  and  that  of 
the  gentleman  of  Elvas,  in  Historical  Collections  of  Louisiana,  vol.  ii.  La  Flori- 
da del  Inca,  is  a  romance. 

I  Castanedo  de  Nagera  in  Ternanx,  p.  11, 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  EIVKB. 


xvil 


follow  ninety  days  without  leaving  inhabited  country.  They 
added  that  the  first  village  was  called  llaxa,  that  the  river 
was  more  than  a  league  wide,  and  that  there  was  a  great 
number  of  canoes."* 

Such  clear  accounts  of  a  great  river,  which  the  party  of 
De  Soto  had  found  navigable  for  at  least  a  thousand  miles, 
would  naturally  have  drawn  attention  to  it;  but  wo  find  no 
notice  of  any  Spanish  vessels  entering  the  river  to  trade  in 
furs  or  slaves,  or  simply  to  explore.  Accident  occasionally 
brought  some  to  its  banks,  but  these  visits  are  few  and  brief, 
and  they  led  to  no  result.  Thus,  in  1553,  a  rich  argosy  from 
Vera  Cruz,  after  stopping  at  Havana,  was  wrecked  on  the 
Florida  coast,  and  a  few  survivors  reached  Tampico  by  land, 
escaping  from  the  constant  and  terrible  attacks  of  the  na- 
tivcs.f  In  consequence  of  this  and  other  disastera  the  king, 
iu  1557,  ordered  the  reduction  of  Florida,  and  an  army  of 
1,600  men  was  fitted  out  two  yeare  after  under  Don  Tristan 
de  Luna,  who  carried  with  him  every  survivor  of  any  expe- 
dition or  shipwreck  in  Florida,  who  could  be  found. 

De  Luna  reached  St.  Mary's  bay  in  safety,  and  had  sent 
back  two  vessels  to  announce  his  arrival  in  Florida,  when  a 
sudden  storm  came  on,  and  all  his  vessels  were  dashed  to 
pieces.  Thus  left  in  as  miserable  a  state  as  any  shipwrecked 
party  before,  Tristan  was  not  disheartened  ;  he  advanced  to 
an  Indian  town  Nanipacna,  which  had  been  taken  and 
wasted  by  De  Soto.:}:  Hearing  very  flattering  accounts  of  the 
rich  country  of  Coosa,  he  despatched  a  party  of  two  hundred 
there,  under  his  sargente  mayor  accompanied  by  two  Domin- 
icans. The  party  reached  Coosa  in  safety,  entered  into  an 
alliance  offensive  and  defensive  with  the  cacique,  who  was 

*  Castanedo  de  Nagera  in  Ternaux,  p.  117.  f  Enmyo  Crono  adann, 

X  It  must  be  the  Napetuca  of  the  Portuguese  relation.   For  De  Luna,  see  JSHs. 
CVott.  1569. 

B 


xviii 


HISTORY   OF  THE   DI800VEBT 


I 


f 

m 


\  will 


"'Ml! 


,1; 


1   l>  I    ,     1 


im 


|M 


then  at  war  with  the  Napochles  (probftbly  the  Natcliez),  who 
lay  on  the  Ochcchiton,  or  great  water,  which  the  Spaniards 
took  to  be  the  sea.  An  expedition  was  soon  set  on  foot 
against  the  Natchez,  and  the  cacique  went  at  the  liead  as 
chief  of  Coosa  never  went  before,  on  a  gallant  Arabian  steed, 
with  a  negro  groom  at  his  horse's  head.  Defeating  the  ene- 
my, they  reached  the  Ochechiton  which  proved  to  be  a 
mighty  river,  the  Rio  del  Espiritu  de  Santo,  in  other  words, 
the  Mississippi,  thus  reached  again  by  the  Spanish  adventur- 
ers and  missionaries.  Eevolts  had  meanwhile  arisen  in  De 
Luna's  camp,  and  vessels  soon  came  to  bear  the  survivors 
back  to  Mexico,  and  none  now  looked  in  hope  to  that  fatal 
quarter. 

The  entrance  of  some  missionaries  into  New  Mexico  in 
1580,  though  fatal  to  themselves,  led  to  new  expeditions,  and 
to  the  final  establisliment  of  Spanish  colonies  there ;  here  as 
before,  they  heard  continually  of  the  Mississippi,  or  Rio 
Grande  del  Espiritu  Santo,  and  some  seem  actually  to  have 
reached  it  ;*  but  no  steps  were  taken  to  explore  it,  and  the  Rio 
Grandee  is  so  called  merely  because  some  one  mistook  it  for 
the  great  river  of  De  Soto.f 

A  work  published  in  1630,:}:  has  indeed  an  account  of  a 
Portuguese  captain,  Vincent  Gonzalez,  who  is  said  to  liave 
sailed  up  a  large  river  between  Apalaclie  and  Tainpico,  and 
to  have  approached  quite  near  the  kingdom  of  Qnivira,  but 
though  this  is  supposed  by  the  author  to  be  the  Espiritu 
Santo,  the  notice  is  too  vague  to  found  any  inference. 

The  Mississippi  was  now  forgotten,  and  although  explored 
for  at  least  a  thousand  miles,  known  to  have  at  least  two 

*  See  Enmyo  Chronologko,  p.  170 ;  and  tit  Bonilla  Torquemada,  vol.  iii.,  p.  868. 
1 1  have  seen  this  fnct  stated,  but  oaa  not  now  state  the  work. 
I  Benavides  Memorial. 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RTVEB. 


XIS 


branches  equal  in  size  to  the  finest  rivers  of  Spain,  to  bo 
nearly  a  league  wide  and  perfectly  navigable,  it  is  laid  down 
on  maps  as  an  insignificant  stream,  often  not  even  distin- 
guighed  by  its  name  of  Ecpiritu  Santo,  and  then  we  are  left  to 
conjecture  what  petty  line  was  intended  for  the  great  river 
of  the  west.* 

The  Spaniards  had  thus  abandoned  the  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  a  few  years  after  the  French  at  the  north  began 
to  hear  of  it,  and  it  was  finally  reached  and  explored  by  the 
Jesuit  missionaries,  the  great  pioneers  of  the  north  and  west, 
Quebec  was  founded  by  Champlain,  in  1608.    He  was  soon 
joined  by  Recollect  friai*8,  and  while  he  entered  the  Seneca 
country  with  his  Huron  allies,  the  intrepid  Father  Le  Carou 
had  ascended  the  Ottawa  and  reached  the  banks  of  Lake 
Huron.    Subsequently  others  joined  him  there ;  they  invited 
the  Jesuits  to  aid  them,  and  the  tribes  in  the  peninsula  were 
visited  from  Detroit  to  Niagara,  and  from  Lake  Nipissing  to 
Montreal.    The  capture  of  Canada  by  the  English,  in  1629, 
defeated  any  further  missionary  efforts  for  a  time;  but  it  was 
restored  in  1632,  and  the  Jesuits  sent  out  to  continue  the  mis- 
sions alone.    They  "now  became  the  first  discoverere  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  interior  of  this  continent.    They  were  the 
first  Europeans  who   formed  a  settlement  on  the   coast  of 
Mjvine,  and  among  the  first  to  reach  it  from  the  St.  Lawrence. 
They,  it  was,  who  thoroughly  explored  the  Saguenay,  dis- 
coverer! Lake  St.  John,  and  led  the  way  overland  from  Que- 
bec to  Hudson's  bay.     It  is  to  one  of  them  that  we  owe  the 
discovery  of  tlie  rich  and  inexhaustible  salt  springs  of  Onon- 

*  An  English  voyni»e  np  in  1648,  or  thereabouts,  and  a  Spanish  one  up  into 
New  York  hy  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio,  in  1669,  have  found  advocates;  but  I 
confess  my  skepticism.  That  a  ship  may  have  occasionally  entered  the  Delta, 
is  not  improbable,  and  Indian  report  seems  to  fix  one  somewhere  near  1669. 
See  Sparks^s  Life  of  La  Salle,  Life  of  Marquette,  DentofCa  Neio-York. 


zx 


lIISTOnY   OF  TIIK   DISCOVERT 


^lli 


'II  1 1 


I.', 


I 


diiga.  Witliin  ten  yenrs  of  their  Bccond  nnlvnl,  tliey  hftd 
completed  the  oxnmiiu\tion  of  tlie  country  from  Lake  Superior 
to  the  gulf,  and  founded  several  villages  of  Christian  neo- 
phytes on  the  borders  of  the  upper  hikes.  While  the  inter- 
course of  the  Dutch  was  yet  confined  to  the  Indians  in  tho 
vicinity  of  Fort  Orange,  and  five  years  before  Elliott  of  New- 
England  had  addressed  a  single  word  to  the  Indians  within 
six  miles  of  Boston  liarbor  tlie  French  missionaries  planted 
the  cross  at  Sanlt  Ste.  Marie,  whence  they  looked  down  on 
tho  Sioux  country  and  the  valley  of  tho  Mississippi.  The 
vast  unknown  west  now  opened  its  prairies  before  them. 

"  Fortunately  the  early  missionaries  were  men  of  learning 
and  observation.  They  felt  deeply  the  importance  of  their 
position,  and  while  acquitting  themselves  of  the  dnties  of 
their  calling,  carefully  recorded  the  progress  of  events  around 
them."*  Year  after  year  these  accounts  reached  Europe, 
and  for  a  long  time  were  regularly  issued  from  the  press,  in 
the  same  epistolary  form  in  which  they  were  written. 

In  the  lustory  of  the  French  colonies,  they  are  a  source 
Buch  as  no  other  part  of  the  country  possesses.  For  our  pres- 
ent purpose,  they  have  been  itivaluable;  from  them  we  can 
trace  step  by  step,  the  gradual  discovery  of  the  Mississippi. 

As  early  as  1639,  the  adventurous  and  noble  hearted  sieur 
Nicolet,f  the  interpreter  of  the  colony  had  struck  west  of  the 

*  O'Cnllnghnn,  Jesuit  Relntions. 

f  As  we  nre  perlinps  the  first  to  ndvnnoo  tlie  elaim  of  tlie  sieur  Nicolet,  it 
mny  not  be  amiss  to  ^'we  n  menger  sketch  of  n  mnn  too  mucli  unknown,  though 
he  occupied  nn  inipoptant  place  in  the  early  history  of  Cnnadn.  ITc  cnme  out  to 
Cn!in<1a  in  161S,  and  was  never  from  that  time  unemployed.  Almost  immedi- 
ately after  his  comiiitr,  he  was  sent  to  tlie  plniidcrinf;  Ilonqueronons,  or  Indians 
of  the  island,  ahove  the  Chaudiere  falls  on  the  Ottawa.  ITore  he  remained  two 
years,  often  suffering  from  huncer  and  their  hrntnlity,  hut  finally  acquired  a 
great  knowledge  of  the  Al<;onquin.  After  this,  he  was  sent  with  four  hundred 
Al.roiiquins  to  make  pence  with  the  Iroquois,  and  completely  succeeded  in  his 
mission,  lie  was  then  for  eight  or  nine  years  stationed  anions;  the  Nii-issings, 
an  1  became  almost  as  Indian  as  they.   After  the  restoration  of  Canada  to  France, 


f  1 


OF  THE  MISSl§§Tri>I   UIVEB. 


XXI 


HuronB,  and,  roacliing  tlic  last  limit  of  the  Algonquins,  found 
himself  among  the  Ouinipeguu  (Winnobagoes),  "  a  people 
called  80,  because  they  came  from  a  distant  sea,  but  whom 
some  French  erroneously  called  Puants,"  says  this  early  ac- 
count. Like  the  NadSeSis  they  spoke  a  language  distinct  from 
the  Huron  and  Algonquin.  With  these  Nicolet  entered  into 
friendly  relations,  and  exploring  Green  bay,  ascended  Fox 
river  to  its  portage,  and  embarked  on  a  river,  flowing  west ; 
and  says  Father  Vimont,  "  the  sienr  Nicolet  who  had  pene- 
trated furthest  into  those  distant  countries,  avers  that  had  he 
Bailed  three  days  more  on  a  great  river  which  flows  from  that 
lake  [Green  bay],  he  would  have  found  the  sea."  This  shows 
tlmt  Nicolet  like  De  Luna^s  lieutenant  mistook  for  the  sea,  the 
Indian  term  Great  Water^  applied  to  the  Mississippi.  It  is 
certain  then,  that  to  Nicolet  is  due  the  credit  of  having  been 
the  first  to  reach  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  The  hope  of 
reaching  the  Pacific  now  aroused  the  courage  of  the  mission- 
aries, some  fathers  invited  by  the  Algonquins  were  to  be  sent 
to  "  those  men  of  the  other  sea,"  but,  adds  Vimont  prophet- 
ically, "  Perhaps  this  voyage  will  be  reserved  for  one  of  lis 
who  have  some  little  knowledge  of  the  Algonquin."* 

lie  was  made  interpreter  and  commissary  of  the  colony,  wliich  office  lie  filled  till 
he  was  sent,  about  1630,  to  Green  Bay,  and  the  Men  of  the  sea,  where  he  met 
an  assembly  of  four  or  five  thousand  men,  and  concluded  peace  with  them.  It 
must  have  been  at  this  time  that  ho  ascended  the  Fox  river  to  the  Wisconsin.  Re- 
turning to  Quebec,  he  succeeded  Olivier  as  commissary,  and  retained  this  office 
till  his  death.  In  1C41,  we  find  him  with  F.  Rngueneau,  negotiating  a  peace 
with  the  Iroquois,  at  Three-Rivers.  In  1 642,  sent  from  Quebec  to  Three-Rivers, 
to  rescue  a  poor  Abennqui  from  the  hands  of  some  pngnn  Algonquins,  he  set  out 
in  a  small  boat  on  the  Slst  of  October,  at  sunset  with  Savigni,  but  a  storm  came 
on,  and  their  little  craft  capsized  near  Sillery.  Savigni  swam  to  the  shore,  Ni- 
colet, unable  to  swim,  sank  to  rise  no  more.  Thus  perished,  in  a  work  of  Chris- 
tian charity,  the  sicur  Nicolet^  the  first  Frenchman  who  reached  the  waters  of 
the  Mississippi.  See  Rel.  1639-40,  p.  135.  He!,  1640-'41,  ch.  ix.  liel.  1642-4.% 
p.  8.     CreitxtM,  p.  359. 

*  Rel.  1639-40.  pp.  132,  135,  Ac.     Tlie  Lac  dcs  Puans  is  laid  down  on  Chani- 
plain'g  map  of  1C32 ;   but  in  all  probability,  only  from  report,  as  it  is  placed 


m\, 


,'^' 


li 


m 


I'l.i 


iii 


!''tii 


xxu 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DISCOVERT 


In  1641,  two  Jesuits  from  the  Huron  mission,  the  illustrious 
Isaac  Jognes  and  Charles  Eaymbout  were  actually  sent  to 
Sault  St.  Mary's,  and  they  too  heard  of  the  Sioux  and  the  river 
on  which  they  lay,  and  they  burned  to  enter  those  new  realms 
and  speak  that  language  yet  unknown,  which  fell  so  strangely 
on  their  ears  now  used  to  Huron  and  Algonquin  sounds.* 

The  next  year  the  Iroquois  war  broke  out  in  all  its  fury  ; 
and  tho  missionaries  had  to  abandon  all  hopes  of  extending 
to  the  west.  The  war  proved  fatal  to  the  allies  of  the  French ; 
by  1650,  all  Upper  Canada  was  a  desert,  and  not  a  mission, 
not  a  single  Indian  was  to  be  found,  where  bat  a  few  years 
before  the  cross  towered  in  each  of  their  many  villages,  and 
hundreds  of  fervent  Christians  gathered  around  their  fifteen 
missionaries.  The  earth  still  reeked  with  the  blood  of  tho 
pastor  and  his  flock;  six  missionary  fathers  had  fallen  by 
the  hands  of  the  Iroquois,  another  had  been  fearfully  mutil- 
ated in  their  hands.  But  scarce  was  there  a  ray  of  peace 
when  the  survivors,  were  again  summoned  to  the  west.  A 
field  opened  on  Lake  Superior.  Father  Garreau  was  sent  in 
1656,  but  was  killed  ere  he  left  the  St.  Lawrence.  De  Gro- 
seilles  and  another  Frenchman,  more  fortunate,  wintered  on 
the  shores  of  the  lake  in  1658 ;  they  too  visited  the  Sioux,  and 
from  the  fugitive  Hurons  among  them  heard  still  clearer  ti- 
dings of  a  great  river  on  which  they  had  struck,  as,  plunging 
through  unknown  wood  and  waste,  over  cliffs  and  mountains, 
they  had  sought  to  escape  the  destructive  hand  of  the  pur- 
suing Iroquois.  "  It  was  a  beautiful  river,"  writes  the  an- 
nalist, "large,  broad,  and  deep,  which  would  bear  comparison, 
they  say,  with  on*'  St.  Lawrence."  On  its  banks  they  found 
the  AbimiSec,  the  Ilinois  of  later  days. 

north  of  Lake  Superior,  unless  it  is  meant  for  Lake  Winnipeg,  Trhicb,  lite 
Green  bay,  got  its  name  from  the  Algonquin  epithet  for  the  Dacotahs,  as  com- 
ing from  the  Pacific.  *  Jiel.  1642,  p.  166. 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  BIVEB. 


XXUL 


From  other  quarters,  too,  they  began  to  hear  of  this  great 
river.  Tht,  missionaries  on  the  Saguenay  heard  of  the  Win- 
nipegouek,  and  their  bay  whence  three  seas  could  be  reached, 
the  nortli,  the  south,  and  the  west.*  The  missionaries  in 
New  York  saw  Iroquois  war-parties  set  out  against  the  Ontoa- 
gannha  whose  towns  "  lay  on  a  beautiful  river  [Ohio],  which 
leads  to  the  great  lake  as  they  called  the  sea,  where  they 
traded  with  Europeans,  who  pray  to  God  as  we  do,  and  have 
rosaries  and  bells  to  call  men  to  prayers."  This  sea  the  mis- 
sionaries judged  must  be  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  or  that  of  Cali- 
fornia.f 

Meanwhile  Menard,  an  old  Huron  missionary,  proceeded, 
in  1660,  to  Lake  Superior,  and  founded  an  Ottawa  mission 
on  the  southern  shore.  He,  too,  heard  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  had  resolved  to  reach  the  nations  on  its  banks,  undeter- 
red by  the  difficulties  of  the  way ;  but  a  work  of  charity 
called  him  to  another  quarter,  and  a  death  in  the  wilderness 
arrested  his  projects,  before  which  one  of  half  his  years 
would  have  recoiled.:}. 

His  successor,  Father  Allouez,  also  heard  of  the  great  river, 
"which  empties,"  says  he,  "as  far  as  I  can  conjecture,  into 
the  sea  by  Virginia."  He  heard,  too,  of  the  Ilimouek,  and 
the  Nadouessiouek ;  and  here,  for  the  first  time,  we  find  the 


•  ^^^-  1659-'60,  p.  61.  f  Jiel.  1661-'62,  p.  9. 

X  See  Jjis  letter  in  liel.  1663-'64,  ch.  i.  Recent  publications  have  put  a  Jesuit 
rcission  on  the  lake,  and  even  on  the  Mississippi,  as  early  as  1653;  but  the  Rela- 
tions have  not  the  slightest  allusion  to  the  fact,  and  speak  of  Menard  as  the  first 
The  Jesuits  named  as  being  concerned,  are  not  mentioned  either  in  the  journal 
of  the  superior  of  the  mission,  nor  in  any  printed  Relations,  nor  in  Ducreux,  nor 
in  Le  Ciercq.  Tlie  fact  of  a  missionary  at  Tamaroa  prior  to  Marquette's  voyage, 
is  perfectly  irreconcilable  with  the  Relations,  and  if  established,  would  destroy 
their  authority.  In  this  view,  I  will  pay  the  most  exorbitant  price  for  any  let- 
ter to  or  from  F.  I.ouis  de  Guerre,  or  Charles  Droeoux,  or  any  act  of  theirs  at 
Tamaroa  during  the  period  in  question,  or  any  manuscript  of  the  I7th  century 
showing  their  existence  there. 


XXIV 


HISTORY   OF  THE  DISCOVEET 


•  Hi" 


,;i"''' 

.f"! 


river  bear  a  name.    "  They  live,"  says  he,  "  on  the  great 
river  called  Messipi."* 

The  western  mission  now  received  new  accessions,  and 
their  hopes  of  entering  the  great  river  became  more  and  more 
sanguine.  Tiie  distingnished  Father  Dablon  was  sent  out  as 
superior  of  the  Ottawa  missions.  A  station  among  the  Illinois 
was  determined  npon,  Father  Marquette  named  to  begin  it, 
and  the  study  of  the  Illinois  language  actually  begun  by 
that  missionary.  From  the  accounts  of  a  young  man  who 
was  his  master  in  that  language,  he  formed  new  conjectures  as 
to  its  mouth,  and  was  apparently  the  first  who  heard  of  the 
Missouri.  As  to  his  intended  voyage,  he  says,  "  If  the  In- 
dians who  promise  to  make  me  a  canoe  do  not  break  their 
word,  we  shall  go  into  this  river  as  soon  as  we  can  with 
a  Frenchman  and  this  young  man  given  me,  who  knows  some 
of  these  languages,  and  has  a  readiness  for  learning  others  ; 
we  shall  visit  the  nations  that  inhabit  them  in  order  to  open 
the  passage  to  so  many  of  our  fathers,  who  have  long  awaited 
this  happiness.  This  discovery  will  give  us  a  complete 
knowledge  of  the  southern  or  western  sea."f 

Meanwhile  Allouez,  on  the  3d  of  November,  1669,  left 
Sault  St.  Mary's  to  visit  Green  bay ;  with  great  danger  and 
hardship  he  reached  it,  and  spent  the  winter  preaching  to  the 
Pottawatomies,  Menomonees,  Sacs,  Foxes,  and  Winnebagoes, 
whom  he  found  mingled  there.  On  the  16th  of  April,  1670, 
he  began  to  ascend  Fox  river,  and  passing  two  rapids, 
reached  Winnebago  lake,  and  crossing  it,  came  to  a  river 
"  from  a  wild-oat  lake."  He  was  now,  however,  in  search  of 
the  Outagamis,  or  Foxes,  and  turned  up  their  river.  He 
found  them  dejected  by  the  loss  of  several  families  carried 
off  by  the  Senecas  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Machihiganing  (our 


*  Rei.  leee-'eT,  p.  loe. 


t  Rel.  1669-*70,  p.  15Y. 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  SIVEB. 


XXV 


e  great 


ns,  and 

■:' 

nd  more 

it  out  as 

)  Illinois 

;| 

begin  it, 

?gun  by 

lan  wlio 

i 

cturcs  as 

•d  of  the 

M 

f  the  In- 

W 

ak  their 

m 

!an  with 

M 

)\V8  some 

y  others ; 

r  to  open 

awaited 

complete 

669,  left 

nger  and 

ng  to  the 

ebagoes, 

ril,  1670, 

>  rapids, 

a  river 

jearch  of 

^er.    He 

s  carried 

ling  (our 

0,  p.  157. 

M 

Lake  Michigan).  After  consoling  them  as  ho  conld,  he  ex- 
plained the  object  of  his  coming,  and  after  given  them  his 
firet  general  instruction  in  Christianity,  sailed  down  their 
river  again,  and  continued  to  the  town  of  the  Machkoutench, 
whom,  says  he,  the  Hurons  call  Assistaectaeronnous,  or  Fire 
nation.  To  reach  them,  he  traversed  the  lake  or  marsh  at  the 
head  of  the  Wisconsin,  for  they  lay  on  that  river.  "  It  was," 
he  says,  "  a  beautiful  river  running  southwest  without  any 
rapid.  It  leads,"  he  says,  further  on,  "to  the  great  river 
named  Messi-sipi,  which  is  only  six  days'  sail  from  here." 
Thus  had  Allouez  at  last  reached  the  waters  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, as  Nicolet  had  done  thirty  years  before.* 

There  was  now  no  difficulty  in  reaching  it ;  an  easier  way 
lay  open  than  that  from  Chagoimegon.  Father  Dablon 
wished  himself  to  visit  the  spot,  and  in  company  with  Al- 
louez, he  returned  to  Green  bay,  and  as  early  as  September, 
in  the  same  year,  both  were  again  at  Maskoutens.f 

Father  Dablon  had  meanwhile  been  named  superior-gen- 
eral of  the  Canada  missions,  and  seems  to  have  taken  the 
more  interest  in  the  exploring  of  the  Mississippi  by  the  Wis- 
consin, as  the  projected  Illinois  mission  of  Father  Marquette 
was,  for  a  time  at  least,  defeated.  The  peace  on  which  they 
relied  was  suddenly  destroyed ;  the  Sioux  provoked  by  the 
rash  insolence  of  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  declared  war,  and 

*  Rel.  ]669-'70,  p.  92. 

f  Jiel.  1670 -'71,  p.  169.  At  the  time  of  drawing  my  notice  on  F.  Allouez,  p.  67 
post,  I  hnd  some  doubts  as  to  these  visits  of  Allouez  and  Dablon.  The  former, 
Allouez,  is  the  first  missionary  who  reached  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi ;  he 
twice  ascended  the  Fox  river  in  1G70,  and  twice  overthrew  the  idol  at  Kaka- 
lin  rapid.  Fortunately  Mr.  Squier  knows  but  little  of  the  French  missionaries 
at  the  north,  or  he  would  not  have  called  the  good  fathers  infamous  for  thus 
unseating  the  sacred  object  of  the  worship  of  the  aborigines  to  substitute  what 
with  whimsical  archa!ology  he  calls  {he  fictions  of  their  oicn  religion.  Allouez  is 
the  first  to  use  a  term  at  all  like  Michigan  for  the  lake,  and  confirms  my  con- 
jecture of  the  identity  of  the  Maskoutens  and  Assistagueronons, 


XXVI 


IIISTOKY   or  THE   DISCO V  KEY 


ii': 


1^;!:'!^ 


I*, 


!'i 


sent  back  to  the  missionary  the  pictures  wliich  lie  liad  given 
them.  Stratagem  enabled  thein  to  neutralize  the  advaiitage 
which  firearms  gave  their  enemies;  the  Ilnrons  and  Ottawas 
were  completely  defeated,  and  fugitives  already  before  the 
face  of  the  Iroquois,  they  now  fled  again  from  a  more  terrible 
foe  in  the  west.  All  hopes  of  his  Illinois  mission  being  thus 
dashed,  the  dejected  Marquette  followed  his  fugitive  flocks, 
and  as  the  Ottawas  proceeded  apart  to  Manitoulin,  lie  ac- 
companied the  Hurons  to  Mackinaw.*  Here,  doubtless,  a 
hope  of  reaching  the  Mississippi  by  the  Wisconsin,  again 
roused  him,  as  we  soon  find  it  the  burthen  of  his  thoughts. 

Father  Dablon  published  the  Relations  of  1670-'71,  and  its 
map  of  Lake  Superior.  In  his  description  of  the  map  he  at 
once  alludes  to  the  Mississippi.  "To  the  south  flows  tlie 
great  river,  which  they  call  the  Missisipi,  which  can  have 
its  mouth  only  in  the  Florida  sea,  more  than  four  hundred 
leagues  from  here."f  Farther  on  he  says,  "I  deem  it  proper 
to  set  down  here  all  we  have  learnt  of  it.  It  seems  to  en- 
circle ail  our  lakes,  rising  in  the  north  and  running  to  the 
south,  till  it  empties  in  a  sea,  which  we  take  to  be  the  Red 
sea  (gulf  of  California),  or  that  of  Florida ;  as  we  have  no 
knowledge  of  any  great  rivers  in  those  parts  which  empty 
into  those  two  seas.:}:  Some  Indians  assure  us  that  this  river 
is  so  beautiful  that  more  than  three  hundred  leagues  from  its 
mouth,  it  is  larger  than  that  which  flows  by  Quebec,  as  they 
make  it  more  than  a  league  wide.  They  say,  moreover,  that 
all  this  vast  extent  of  country  is  nothing  but  prairies,  without 
trees  or  woods,  which  obliges  the  inhabitants  of  those  parts  to 
use  turf  and  sun-dried  dung  for  fuel,  till  you  come  about 
twenty  leagues  from  the  sea.    Here  the  forests  begin  to  ap- 

*  Rel.  1670-'71,  p.  147.  f  -R"^-  1670-'7l,  p.  89. 

\  There  is  probably  a  misprint,  here,  and  it  should  be,  "  we  have  some  kdowI- 
edge"  or  else  he  held  a  theory  that  every  sea  must  have  its  great  river. 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  EIVER. 


ZXYU 


ad  given 
il  vantage 
Ottawas 
jfore  tlie 
3  terrible 
iing  thus 
^e  flocks, 
n,  he  ac- 
btless,  a 
in,  again 
nglits. 
I,  and  its 
lap  he  at 
lows  the 
!an  have 
hundred 
it  proper 
ms  to  en- 
g  to  the 
the  Red 
have  no 
1  empty 
this  river 
from  its 
,  as  they 
ver,  that 
,  without 
I  parts  to 
lie  about 
;in  to  ap- 

.  89, 

>me  Knowl- 

r. 


pear  again.  Some  warriors  of  this  country  (Maskoutens),  who 
say  that  they  have  descended  that  far,  assure  us  that  they 
saw  men  like  the  French,  who  were  splitting  trees  with  long 
knives,  some  of  whom  had  their  house  on  the  water,  thus 
they  explained  their  meaning,  speaking  of  sawed  planks  and 
ships.  They  say  besides,  that  all  along  this  great  river  are 
various  towns  of  different  nations,  languages,  and  customs, 
who  all  make  war  on  each  other ;  some  are  situated  on  the 
river  side,  but  most  of  them  inland,  continuing  thus  up  to  the 
nation  of  the  Kadouessi  who  are  scattered  over  more  than  a 
hundred  leagues  of  country."* 

The  course  of  the  Mississippi,  its  great  features,  the  nature 
of  the  country,  were  all  known  to  the  western  missionaries  and 
the  traders,  who  alone  with  them  carried  on  the  discovery  of 
the  west.  Among  the  latter  was  Jolliet,  who  in  his  rambles 
also  penetrated  near  the  Mississippi.!  As  the  war  seemed 
an  obstacle  to  so  hazardous  an  undertaking,  the  missionaries, 
it  would  appear,  urged  the  French  court  to  set  ^n  foot  an  ex- 
pedition. Marquette  held  himself  in  readiness  to  leave  Mac- 
kinaw at  the  first  sign  of  his  superior's  will,  and  at  last  on  the 
4th  of  June,  1672,  the  French  minister  wrote  to  Talon,  then 
intendant  of  Canada  :  "As  after  the  increase  of  the  colony 
there  is  nothing  more  important  for  the  colony  than  the  dis- 
covery of  a  passage  to  the  south  sea,  his  majesty  wishes  you 
to  give  it  your  attention.";):  Talon  was  then  about  to  return 
to  France,  but  recommended  Jolliet  to  the  new  governor 
Frontenac,  who  had  just  arrived.  The  latter  approved  the 
choice,  and  Jolliet  received  his  proper  instructions  from  the 
new  intendant.  "  The  Chevalier  de  Grand  Fontaine,"  writes 
Frontenac,  on  the  2d  of  November,  "  has  deemed  expedient 

•  liel.  1670-"71,  p.  176. 

t  Mem.  of  Frontenac,  N.  Y.  Paiis  Doc.,  vol.  i.,  p.  274.    X  Ibid,  vol.  i.,  p.  267. 


xxviii 


HISTORY   OF  THE  DISCOVERT 


iMIIIi 


,|"11.    ,'" 


t>iii  Hill 


for  the  service  to  send  the  sienr  JoUiet  to  discover  the  south 
sea  by  the  Maskoutens  country,  and  the  great  river  Missis- 
sippi, which  is  believed  to  empty  in  the  California  sea.  lie 
is  a  man  of  experience  in  this  kind  of  discovery,  and  has  al- 
ready been  near  the  great  river,  of  which  he  promises  to  see 
the  month."* 

Of  the  missionaries,  two  seemed  entitled  to  the  honor  of 
exploring  the  great  river,  Allouez,  the  first  to  reach  its  waters, 
and  Marquette  named  for  some  years  missionary  to  the  Il- 
linois. The  latter  was  chosen,  and  since  his  departure  from 
Chegoimegon,  he  had  constantly  offered  up  his  devotions  to 
the  blessed  Virgin  Immaculate,  to  obtain  the  grace  of  reach- 
ing the  Mississippi.  What  was  his  joy  when  on  the  very 
festival  dearest  to  his  heart,  that  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, Jolliet  arrived  bearing  the  letters  of  his  superiors  which 
bid  him  embark  at  last,  in  his  company  to  carry  out  the  de- 
sign so  long,  and  so  fondly  projected. 

"The  long-expecled  discovery  of; the  Mississippi  was  now 
at  hand,  to  be  accomplished  by  Jolliet  of  Quebec,  of  whom 
there  is  scarce  a  record  but  this  one  excursion  that  gives  him 
immortality  and  by  Marquette,  who,  after  years  of  pious  assi- 
duity to  the  poor  wrecks  of  Hurons,  whom  he  planted  near 
abundant  fisheries,  on  the  cold  extremity  of  Michigan,  en- 
tered, with  equal  humility,  upon  a  career  which  exposed  his 
life  to  perpetual  danger,  and  by  its  rrjnlts  affected  the  des- 
tiny of  nations."! 

The  winter  was  spent  in  preparation,  in  studying  over  all 
that  had  yet  been  learned  of  the  great  river,  in  gathering 
around  them  every  Indian  wanderer,  and  amid  the  tawny 
group  drawing  their  first  rude  map  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
the  water  courses  that  led  to  it.    And  on  this  first  map  traced 

•  Mem.  ofFrontenac,  N.  Y.  Paris  Doc.,  vol  i.,  p.  274.  f  Bancroft 


OF  THE  MlSSISSirn  RIVER. 


XXIX 


doubtless  kneeling  on  the  groniid  they  set  down  the  names  of 
each  tribe  they  were  to  pass,  each  important  point  to  be  met. 
The  discovery  was  dangerous,  but  it  was  not  to  be  rash  ;  nil 
was  the  result  of  calm,  cool  investigation,  and  n^'ver  was 
chance  less  concerned  than  in  the  discovery  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. 

In  the  spring  they  embarked  at  Mackinaw  in  two  frail 
bark  canoes,  each  with  his  paddle  in  hand,  and  full  of  hope, 
they  soon  plied  them  merrily  over  the  crystal  waters  of  the 
lake.    All  was  new  to  Marquette,  and  he  descriUes  as  ho 
went  along  the  Menonionies,  Green  bay,  and  Maskoutens, 
which  he  reached  on  the  7th  of  June,  1673.    He  had  now 
attained  the  limit  of  former  discoveries,  the  new  world  was 
before  them;  they  looked  back  a  last  adieu  to  the  watei-s, 
which  great  as  the  distance  was,  connected  them  with  Que- 
bec and  their  countrymen ;  they  knelt  on  the  shore  to  offer, 
by  a  new  devotion,  their  lives,  their  honor,  and  their  under- 
taking, to  their  beloved  mother  the  Virgin  Mary  Immaculate; 
then  launching  on  the  broad  Wisconsin,  sailed  slowly  down 
its  current  amid  its  vine-clad  isles,  and  its  countless  sand-bara. 
No  sound  broke  the  stillness,  no  human  form  appeared,  and 
at  last,  after  sailing  seven  days,  on  the  17th  of  June,  they 
happily  glided  into  the  great  river.    Joy  that  could  find  no 
utterance  in  words  filled  the  grateful  heart  of  Marquette. 
The  broad  river  of  the  Conception,  as  he  named  it,  now  lay 
before  them,  stretching  away  hundreds  of  miles  to  an  un- 
known sea.    Soon  all  was  new;  mountain  and  forest  had 
glided  away ;  the  islands,  with  their  groves  of  cotton-wood, 
became  more  frequent,  and  moose  and  deer  browzed  on  the 
plains ;  strange  animals  were  seen  travei-sing  the  river,  and 
monstrous  fish  appeared  in  its  waters.    But  they  ]>rnceeded 
on  their  way  amid  this  solitude,  frightful  by  its  utter  absence 


XXX 


HISTORY   OP  THE   DISCOVEIIT 


I'ii 


Bull 


4: 


of  man.  Descending  still  furtlier,  they  came  to  the  land  of 
the  bison,  or  pisikiou,  wlilch,  with  the  turkey,  became  sole 
tenants  of  the  wilderness;  all  other  game  had  disappeared. 
At  last,  on  the  25th  of  June,  they  descried  foot-prints  on  the 
shore.  They  now  took  heart  again,  and  JoUiet  and  the  mis- 
sionary leaving  their  five  men  in  the  canoes,  followed  a  little 
beaten  path  to  discover  who  the  tribe  might  be.  They  trav- 
elled on  in  silence  almost  to  the  cabin-doors,  when  they  halted, 
and  with  a  loud  hallao  proclaimed  their  coming.  Three  vil- 
lages lay  before  them ;  the  first,  roused  by  the  cry,  poured 
forth  its  motley  group,  which  halted  at  the  sight  of  the  new- 
comers, and  the  well-known  dress  of  the  missionary.  Old 
men  carne  slowly  on,  step  by  measured  step,  bearing  alotl 
the  all-mysterious  calumet.  All  was  silence ;  they  stood  at 
last  before  the  two  Europeans,  and  Marquette  asked,  "Who 
are  you  ?"  "  We  are  Illinois,"  was  the  answer,  which  dis- 
pelled all  anxiety  from  the  explorers,  and  sent  a  thrill  to  the 
heart  of  Marquette;  the  Illinois  missionary  was  at  last  amid 
the  children  of  that  tribe  which  he  had  so  long,  so  tender- 
ly yearned  to  see. 

After  friendly  greetings  at  this  town  of  Pewaria,  and  the 
neighboring  one  of  Moing-wena,  they  returned  to  their  canoes, 
escorted  by  the  wondering  tribe,  who  gave  their  hardy  visi- 
tants a  calumet,  the  safeguard  of  the  West.  With  renewed 
courage  and  lighter  hearts,  they  sailed  on,  and  passing  a  high 
rock  with  strange  and  monstrous  forms  depicted  on  its  rugged 
surface,  heard  in  the  distance  the  roaring  as  of  a  mighty  cata- 
ract, and  soon  beheld  Pekitanoui,  or  the  muddy  river,  as  the 
Algonquins  call  the  Missouri,  rushing  like  some  untamed 
monster  into  the  calm  and  clear  Mississippi,  and  hurrying  in 
with  ics  muddy  waters  the  trees  which  it  had  rooted  up  in  its 
impetuous  course.     Already  had    the   missionaries  hcnrd  of 


OF  THK   MlSSISSiri'I   KIVKU. 


XXXI 


)e  land  of 
icame  sole 
3appeared. 
ints  on  the 
»d  tho  mis- 
red  a  little 
They  trav- 
bey  halted, 
Three  vil- 
ry,  poured 
f  the  new- 
ary.  Old 
aring  aloft 
}y  stood  at 
:ed,  "Who 
which  dis- 
hrill  to  the 
'j  last  amid 
so  tender- 

a,  and  the 
eir  canoes, 
lavdy  visi- 
1  renewed 
ing  a  high 
its  nigged 
glity  cata- 
ver,  as  the 
5  untamed 
nrrying  in 
d  np  in  its 
i  heiu-d  of 


the  river  running  to  tho  west  urn  sea  to  be  reached  by  the 
branches  of  the  Mississippi,  and  Marquette,  now  better  in- 
formed, fondly  hoped  to  reach  it  one  day  by  the  Missouri. 
But  now  their  course  lay  south,  and  passing  a  dangerous 
eddy,  the  demon  of  the  western  Indians,  they  marked  the 
"Waboukigou,  or  Ohio,  the  river  of  the  Shawnees,  and  still 
holding  on  their  way,  came  to  the  warm  land  of  the  cane, 
and  the  country  which  the  musquitoes  might  call  their  own. 
While  enveloped  in  their  sails  as  a  shelter  from  them,  they 
came  upon  a  tribe  who  invited  tlieni  to  the  shore.  They  were 
wild  wanderers,  for  they  had  guns  bought  of  Catholic  Euro- 
peans to  the  east. 

Thus  far  all  had  been  friendly,  and  encouraged  by  this 
second  meeting,  they  plied  their  oars  anew,  and  amid  groves 
of  cotton-wood  on  either  side,  descended  to  the  33d  degree, 
where,  for  the  first  time,  a  hostile  reception  seemed  promised 
by  the  excited  Metchigameas.  Too  few  to  resist,  their  only 
hope  on  earth  was  the  mysterious  calumet,  and  in  heaven  the 
protection  of  Mary,  to  whom  they  sent  up  those  fervent 
prayers,  which  none  but  one  who  has  called  on  her  in  the 
hour  of  need  can  realize.  At  last  the  storm  subsided,  and 
they  were  received  in  peace ;  their  language  formed  an  ob- 
stacle, but  an  interpreter  was  found,  and  after  explaining  the 
object  of  their  coming,  and  announcing  the  great  truths  of 
Christianity,  they  embarked  for  Akamsea,  a  village  thirty 
miles  below  on  the  eastern  shore. 

Here  they  were  well  received,  and  learned  that  the  mouth 
of  the  river  was  but  ten  days  sail  from  this  village;  but  they 
heard,  too,  of  nations  there  trading  with  Europeans,  and  of 
wars  between  the  tribes,  and  the  two  explorers  spent  a  night 
in  consultation.  The  Mississippi,  they  now  saw,  emptied  into 
the  gulf  of  Mexico,  between  Florida  and  Tampico,  two  Span- 


zxxii 


HISTORY   OF  TIIK  PISCOVKRY 


i-'..iii 


I  i.  tl , 


I, "; 


\% 


%,l|i 


*  !il,,;l 


ish  points ;  tliey  luiglit  by  proceeding  full  into  their  hands. 
Tliey  resolved  to  return.  Thus  fur  only  Marquette  traced  the 
map,  and  he  put  down  the  names  of  other  tribes  of  Avhich 
they  heard.  Of  these  in  the  Atotchasi,  Matora,  and  Papi- 
haka,  vo  recognise  Arkansas  tribes ;  and  the  Akoroas  and 
Tanikwas,  Pawnees  and  Omahas,  Kansas  and  Apiches,  are 
well  known  in  after  days. 

They  accordingly  set  out  from  Akcnseaon  the  17th  of  July 
to  return.  Passing  the  Missouri  aguiji,  they  entered  the  Il- 
linois, and  meeting  the  friendly  Kaekaskias  at  its  upper 
portage,  were  led  by  them  in  a  kind  of  triumph  to  Lake  Mich- 
igan, for  Marquette  had  promised  to  return  and  instruct  them 
in  the  faith.  Sailing  along  the  lake,  they  crossed  the  outer 
peninsula  of  Green  bay,  and  reached  the  mission  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  just  four  months  after  their  departure  from  it. 

Thus  had  the  missionaries  achieved  their  long-projected 
work.  The  triumph  of  the  age  was  thus  completed  in  the 
discovery  and  exploration  of  the  Mississippi,  which  threw 
open  to  Franco,  *'je  richest,  most  fertile,  and  accessible  terri- 
tory in  the  new  world.  Marquette,  whose  health  had  been 
severely  tried  in  this  voyage,  remained  at  St.  Francis  to  re- 
cruit his  strength  before  resuming  his  wonted  missionary 
labors,  for  he  sought  no  laurels,  he  aspired  to  no  tinsel  praise. 

Jolliet,  who  had,  like  Marquette,  drawn  np  a  journal  and 
map  of  his  voyage,  set  out  (probably  in  the  spring)  for  Que- 
bec, to  report  to  the  governor  of  Canada  the  result  of  his  ex- 
pedition, and  took  with  him  an  Indian  boy,  doubtless  the 
young  slave  given  them  by  the  great  chief  of  the  Illinois. 
Unfortunately,  while  shooting  the  rapids  above  Montreal,  his 
canoe  turned,  and  he  barely  escaped  with  his  life,  losing  all 
his  papers  and  his  Indian  companion.  What  route  he  had 
followed  from  Mackinaw,  we  do  not  know;  but  he  seems  to 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI   BIVEB. 


xxxiii 


cir  hands, 
traced  the 
s  of  which 
and  Papi- 
ioYoas  and 
l>ichc8,  are 

7th  of  July 
ired  the  II- 
its  npper 
Lake  Mich- 
struct  them 
1  the  outer 
St.  Francis 
m  it. 

g-projected 

eted  in  the 

hich  threw 

ssible  terri- 

hnd  been 

ancis  to  re- 

niissionary 

nsel  praise. 

ournal  and 

g)  for  Que- 

t  of  his  ex- 

ubtless  the 

10  Illinois. 

3ntrea1,  his 

,  losing  all 

nto  he  had 

le  Peenis  to 


have  descended  by  Detroit  river,  Lake  Erie,  and  Niagara,  as 
Frontenac  announcing  his  return  to  the  government  in 
France,  says,  "he  has  found  admirable  countries,  and  so 
easy  a  navigation  by  the  beautiful  river  which  he  found,  that 
from  Lake  Ontario  and  Fort  Frontenac,  you  can  go  in  barks 
to  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  there  being  but  one  discharge  to  be 
made  at  the  place  where  Lake  Erie  falls  into  Lake  Ontario." 
Separated  as  he  was  from  Marquette,  and  deprived  of  his 
papers  by  the  accident,  Jolliet  drew  up  a  narrative  of  his 
voyage  from  recollection,  and  also  sketched  a  map  which 
Frontenac  transmitted  to  France  in  November,  1674,  three 
months  after  JoUiet's  arrival  at  Quebec*  The  loss  of  Jolliet's 
narrative  and  map  now  gave  the  highest  importance  to  those 

*  As  Frontenno's  memoir  completely  refutes  the  assertion  of  Hennepin,  that 
Jolliet  made  no  report  to  the  governjnent,  and  is  a  monument  of  no  little  im- 
portance, as  substantiating  the  voyage  of  Marquette  and  Jolliet  we  insert  it  in 
the  original,  from  vol.  i.,  p.  258,  of  the  Paris  Documents  at  Albany. 

"  QURBKC  LE  14  NOVRMB.,  1674. 

"§  VI.  Retour  du  Sr.  Joliet  de  son  voyage  h  la  d6couverte  de  la  mer  du  sud. 

"Le  Sr.  Joliet  que  M.  Talon  m'a  conseill6  d'envoyer  &,  la  decouverte  de  la  mer 
du  sud,  lorsque  j'arrivai  de  France,  en  est  de  retour  depuis  trois  mois  et  a  d6- 
couvert  des  pays  admirables  et  unc  navigation  si  aisie  par  les  belles  rivitires  qu'il 
a  trouv^es  que  du  lac  Ontario  et  du  fort  Frontenac  on  pourrait  aller  en  barque 
jusque  dans  le  golfe  du  Mexique,  n'y  ayant  qu'une  seule  d<icharge  a  faire  dans 
I'endroit  ou  le  Lac  Erie  tombe  dans  le  Lac  Ontario. 

"  Ce  Bont  des  projets  a  quoi  Ton  pourra  travailler  lorsque  la  paix  sera  bien 
6tab1ie  et  quand  il  plaira  au  roi  de  pousser  ces  d6couvertes. 

"II  a  et6  jusqu'iidix  journ6es  du  golfe  du  Mexique  et  croit  que  les  rivitires  quo 
du  cot6  de  I'ouest  tonibent  dans  la  grande  rivitire  qu'il  a  trouv6e,  qui  va  du  nau 
S  .  .  .  et  qu'on  trouveroit  des  communications  d'eaux  qui  m^neroient  h  la  mer 
Vermeille  et  de  la  Californie. 

"  le  vous  envoie  par  mon  secretaire  la  carte  qu'il  en  a  faite  et  les  r^marques 
dont  il  s'est  pu  souvenir,  ayant  perdu  tons  ses  memoires  et  ses  journaux  dans  la 
naufrnge  qu'il  fit  A  la  vue  de  Montreal,  ou  il  pensa  se  noyer,  apres  avoir  fait  un 
voyage  de  douze  cents  lieues  et  perdit  tous  ses  papiers  et  un  petit  sanvage  qu'il 
ramenoit  de  ces  pays  ]L 

"  II  avoit  kissed  dans  le  Lac  Superieur  au  Sault  Ste.  Marie  chez  les  Peres  dea 
copies  de  ses  journaux,  que  nous  ne  saurions  avoir  que  I'ann^e  prochaine,  par  oil 
vous  apprendrez  plus  de  particularit^s  de  cette  decouverte,  dont  il  s'est  tres  bien 
acquitte.  'FKONXKNAa" 

0 


XXXIV 


HISTORY   OF  TirK   DISCOVERY 


■i!!i,  i 


8'''Iii|ImI 


r"''r 


'.III! 


in  the  liands  of  tlio  inissionnries ;  tlicHc  Fronteiinc  protniscd 
to  send,  and  Futlier  Marquette,  as  wo  find  ))y  liis  aiito^mph 
letter,  transmitted  copies  to  liis  superior  at  liis  request,  ])rior 
to  October;  and  tlio  French  government  was,  nndouhfedly, 
possessed,  in  1675,  of  Marquette's  journal  and  map,  and  fully 
aware  of  the  great  advantage  to  be  derived  from  the  dis- 
coveries made,  either  for  communicating  direct  with  France 
from  Illinois,  or  of  seeking  the  nearest  road  to  the  gulf  of  Cal- 
ifornia and  the  Pacific,  by  the  western  tributaries  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. "  These,"  says  Frontenac,  "  are  projects  we  can 
take  in  hand  when  peace  is  w^ell  established,  and  it  shall 
please  his  majesty  to  carry  out  the  exploration." 

The  court  allowed  the  whole  affair  to  pass  unnoticed.  Mar- 
quette's narrative  was  not  published,  and  the  Jesuit  Rehitiona 
apparently  prohibited  ;  so  that  it  would  not,  perhaps,  have 
seen  the  light  to  our  days,  had  not  Thevenot  obtained  a  copy 
of  the  narrative  and  a  map  which  he  published  in  1681.* 
France  would  have  derived  no  benefit  from  this  discovery, 
but  for  the  enterprise  and  persevering  courage  of  Robert 
Cavalier  de  la  Salle.  "When  JoUiet  passed  down  Lake  On- 
tario, in  1674,  he  stopped  at  Fort  Frontenac  where  La  Salle 
was  then  commander  under  Frontenac.  lie  was  thus  one  of 
the  first  to  know  the  result  of  JoUiet's  voyage,  and,  perhaps, 
was  one  of  the  few  that  saw  his  maps  and  journal  which 
were  lost  before  he  reached  the  next  French  post.  At  the 
time  it  does  not  seem  to  have  made  much  impression  on  La 
Salle ;  his  great  object  then  was  to  build  up  a  fortune,  and 
the  next  year  he  obtained  a  grant  of  Fort  Frontenac  and  the 
monopoly  of  the  lake  trade  and  a  patent  of  nobility.  His 
plans  failed,  and  instead  of  acquiring  wealth,  he  found  him- 
self embarrassed  by  immense  debts.     He  now  looked  for 

*  Tliere  is  a  copy  of  tliis  orijjinal  edition  in  the  library  of  Harvard  College. 
An  exact  copy  was  printed  by  Mr.  Rich,  a  few  years  ago. 


OF  THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVKR. 


XXXV 


profni'scd 
iiiitogriiph 
iiest,  i)iior 
louhtedly, 

and  fully 
ti  tlie  dis- 
til Franco 
ulfufCal- 
•f  tlio  Mis- 
8  we  can 
td  it  eball 

ced.   Mar- 
Relations 
baps,  have 
led  a  copy 
in  1681  * 
discovery, 
of  Robert 
Lake  On- 
La  Sallo 
ins  one  of 
,  perliaps, 
nal  which 
t.    At  the 
uon  on  La 
rtnne,  and 
ic  and  the 
it  J.     His 
bund  him- 
oolvcd  for 
vurd  College. 


eomo  new  field,  and  by  reading  the  acconnts  of  the  Spanish 
adventurers,  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  identify  the  ^reat 
river  of  Maniuetto,  and  JoUiet  with  the  great  river  of  Do 
Soto.  The  vast  herds  <»f  bison  seenied  to  him  to  aff'ord  an 
easy  means  of  realizing  all  that  he  could  hope,  by  enalding 
Iiiin  to  ship  from  the  banks  of  tho  Missouri  and  Illinois  direct 
to  France  by  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  cargoes  of  buffalo  skins  and 
wool.  In  1(»77,  he  repaired  again  to  France,  and  by  tho  help 
of  Frontenac's  recommendation,  obtained  a  patent  for  his  dis- 
covery, and  a  new  monopoly  in  the  following  May,  and  by 
September  was  in  Canada  with  Tonty  and  a  body  of  me- 
chanics and  mariners,  with  all  things  necessary  for  his  expe- 
dition. The  plan  traced  by  JoUiet  in  Frontenac's  despatch 
of  1674,  seems  to  have  been  followed  by  him  without  further 
investigation.  As  it  would  be  necessary  to  unload  at  the 
falls  of  Niagara,  the  Onghiara,  of  the  old  missionaries,  he  re- 
solved to  build  a  new  fort  there,  and  construct  vessels  above 
the  cataract  to  ply  on  tho  upper  lakes,  and  thus  connect  his 
trading-houses  on  tho  Mississippi  with  Fort  Frontenac,  his 
chief  and  most  expensive  establishment.  Such  was  his  celer- 
ity that,  by  the  5Hi  of  December,  the  first  detachment  of  his 
party  entered  the  Niagara  river,  and  a  site  was  soon  selected 
for  a  fort,  and  for  the  construction  of  a  vessel  above  the  falls. 
Diflienlties  with  the  Senecas  finally  compelled  him  to  relin- 
quish the  fort,  and  a  mere  shed  or  storehouse  was  raised. 
The  vessel,  however,  went  on,  and  he  at  last  saw  it  glide 
down  into  the  rapid  current  of  Niagara  in  August,  1679,  amid 
the  admiring  crowd  of  Lidians  who  had  gathered  around  the 
French. 

There  was  now  no  obstacle  to  his  further  progress,  but  we 
must  here  regret  that  he  had  not  studied  former  discoveries 
more  narrowly.     One  of  his  clear  and  comprehensive  mind 


lK.t 


tm 


XXXVl 


HISTORY   OF  THE   DISCOVERY 


would  have  seized  at  once  tlie  great  western  branch  of  the 
Mississippi,  already  known  to  the  missionaries  and  the  Iro- 
quois. By  his  present  plans  he  had  to  build  one  vessel  above 
the  falls  of  Niagara,  and  a  second  on  the  Illinois  river;  one 
on  the  Ohio,  so  easily  reached  by  the  Alleghany  would  have 
carried  him  to  the  gulf,  and  he  would  thus  have  avoided  the 
various  troubles  which  so  long  retarded  his  reaching  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  He  sailed  to  Green  bay,  but  found 
that  he  liad  arrayed  against  him  all  the  private  traders  of 
the  west,  by  sending  men  to  trade,  contrary  to  his  patent, 
which  expressly  excepted  the  Ottawa  coimtry.  Of  this  he 
soon  felt  the  eflfects,  his  men  began  to  desert,  and  to  crown 
all  his  misfortunes,  his  new  vessel,  the  Griffin,  was  lost  on  her 
way  back  to  Niagara.  Before  this  catastrophe  he  had  set  out 
to  descend  Lake  Michigan.  He  built  a  kind  of  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph's  and  sounded  its  channel,  and,  at 
last,  in  December,  proceed  to  enter  the  Kardcnkee,  a  branch 
of  the  Illinois,  by  a  portage  from  the  St.  Joseph's.  Disheart- 
ened by  the  desertion  and  disaffection  of  his  men,  and  hy  the 
want  of  all  tidings  of  his  vessel,  he  began  tlie  erection  of 
Fort  CrevecoGur,  and  of  a  vessel  near  the  Illinois  camp  helow 
Lake  Peoria.  The  vessel  he  had  finally  to  abandon  for  want 
of  jiroper  materials  to  complete  it,  and  he  set  out  almost 
alone  for  Fort  Frontenac  by  land,  after  sending  Father  Hen- 
nepin to  explore  the  Illinois  to  its  mouth.  That  missionaiy 
went  farther;  voluntarily  or  as  a  prisoner  of  the  Sionx,  he 
seems  to  have  ascended  as  far  as  St.  Anthony's  falls,  which 
owe  their  name  to  him.  His  exploration  of  the  Mississippi 
between  the  Illinois  river  and  St.  Anthony's  falls,  took  place 
in  1G80,  between  the  months  of  March  and  Se])tember,  when, 
delivered  by  De  Lnth,  he  retnrned  to  Mackinaw,  and  tlu-nce 
in  the  spring  almost   direct  to  Qncln'c  and   Europe.      By 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 


XXXVll 


;h  of  the 
[  the  Iro- 
isel  above 
iver;  one 
ould  liave 
oided  tlie 
ching  the 
but  found 
traders  of 
lis  patent, 
Of  this  he 
i  to  crown 
lost  on  her 
lad  set  out 
fort  at  the 
lel,  and,  at 
!,  a  l)riuich 

Disheart- 
and  by  the 

reetion  of 
amp  below 
)n  for  want 
3nt  almost 
ather  Hen- 
missionary 

Sioux,  he 

alls,  which 
Mississippi 

took  place 

ber,  when, 
and  tlionce 

ro]it'.     By 


1683,  he  published,  at  Paris,  an  account  of  his  voyage 
under  the  title  of  Description  de  la  Louisiano,  which  after 
the  Kelations,  and  Marquette's  narrative,  is  the  next  work 
relative  to  the  Mississippi,  and  contains  the  first  printed  de- 
scription of  that  river  above  the  mouth  of  the  "Wisconsin, 
from  actual  observation. 

La  Salle  returned  to  Illinois  in  1681,  and,  to  his  surprise, 
found  his  fort  deserted.  He  soon  after  met  the  survivors  of 
his  first  expedition  at  Mackinaw,  and  set  about  new  prepara- 
tions for  his  great  work.  In  January,  1682,  he  was  again 
with  his  party  at  the  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  enter- 
ing the  Chicago  river,  followed  the  old  line  of  Father  Mar- 
quette, reached  Fort  Crevecceur  once  more,  and  at  last  began 
in  earnest  his  voyage  down  the  Mississippi.  He  had  aban- 
doned the  idea  of  sailing  down  in  a  ship,  and  resolved  to  go 
in  boats,  ascertain  accurately  the  position  of  its  mouth,  and 
then  return  to  France  and  sail  direct  with  a  colony  for  the 
,  mouth,  and  ascend  to  some  convenient  place.  On  the  6th  of 
February,  the  little  expedition,  apparently  in  three  large 
boats  or  canoes,  conducted  by  La  Salle  and  his  lieutenants, 
Tonty  and  Dautray,  with  Father  Zenobius  Membr6,  as  their 
chaplain,  and  Indians  as  hunters  and  guides,  entered  the 
wide  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  which  henceforward,  in  the 
narratives  of  La  Salle's  companions  assumes  the  name  of 
Colbert.  They  passed  the  mouth  of  the  muddy  Missouri, 
and  further  on,  the  deserted  village  of  the  Tamaroas,  and 
next  the  Ohio,  where  the  marshy  land  began  that  prevented 
their  landing.  Detained  soon  after  by  the  loss  of  one  of  his 
men,  La  Salle  encamped  on  the  bluff,  and  fell  in  with  some 
Chickasaws,  then  proceeding  on,  at  last,  on  the  3d  of  March, 
was  roused  by  the  war-cries,  and  the  rattling  drums  of  an 
Arkansas  village.    He  had   reached   the  limit  of  Jolliet's 


4* 


xxxvm 


ni8T0RT  OF  THE  DISCOVERY 


il"W'\  '"'I' 


"iljllllll 


S'liii 


i'li 


1/  "li 


voyage;  henceforward,  he  was  to  be  the  first  French  ex- 
plorer. Warlike  as  the  greeting  was,  La  Salle  soon  entered 
into  friendly  relations  with  them,  and  several  days  were 
spent  in  their  village.  Here  a  cross  was  planted  with  the 
arms  of  the  French  king,  and  the  missionary  endeavored,  by 
interpreters  and  signs  to  give  some  idea  of  Christianity. 

On  the  17th,  La  Salle  embarked  again,  and  passing  two 
more  Arkansas  towns,  reached  the  populous  tribe  of  the  Ta- 
ensas,  in  their  houses  of  clay  and  straw,  with  roofs  of  cane, 
themselves  attired  in  mantles,  woven  of  white  pliant  bark, 
and  showing  Eastern  reverence  for  their  monarch,  who  in 
great  ceremony  visited  the  envoys  of  the  French. 

Pursuing  his  course,  the  party  next  came  to  the  ISTatchez, 
where  another  cross  was  planted,  and  visiting  the  Koroaa 
proceeded  on  till  the  river  divided  into  two  branches.  Fol- 
lowing the  westerly  one,  they  sailed  past  the  Quinipissas, 
and  the  pillaged  town  of  another  tribe,  till  they  reached 
the  delta,  on  the  6th  of  April.  La  Salle  and  his  two  lieuten- 
ants, each  taking  a  separate  channel,  advanced,  full  of  hope  ; 
the  brackish  water,  growing  Salter  as  they  proceeded,  being 
a  sure  index  of  the  sea,  which  they  reached  at  last  on  the  9th 
of  April,  1682,  sixty-two  days  after  their  entering  the  Missis- 
sippi. 

The  French  had  thus,  at  last,  in  the  two  expeditions  of 
Jolliet  and  La  Salle,  completely  explored  the  river  from  the 
falls  of  St.  Anthony  to  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  La  Salle  now 
planted  a  cross  with  the  arms  of  France  amid  the  solemn 
chant  of  hymns  of  thanksgiving,  and  in  the  name  of  the 
French  king  took  possession  of  the  river,  of  all  its  branches, 
and  the  territory  watered  by  them ;  and  the  notary  drew  up 
an  authentic  act,  which  all  signed  with  beating  hearts,  and 
a  leaden  plate  with  the  arms  of  France,  and  the  names  of 


1, 


OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  KIVER. 


XXXIX 


French  ex- 
on  entered 
days  were 
i  with  the 
avored,  by 
anity. 
lassing  two 
J  of  the  Ta- 
)f8  of  cane, 
liant  bark, 
ch,  who  in 

e  Natchez, 
the  Koroaa 
ches.  Fol- 
Juinipissas, 
y  reached 
wo  lieuten- 
ill  of  hope ; 
ded,  being 
on  the  9th 
the  Missis- 

ditions  of 
sr  from  the 
Salle  now 
he  solemn 
me  of  the 
s  branches, 
ly  drew  np 
learts,  and 
)  names  of 


the  discoverers  was  amid  the  rattle  of  musketry  deposited  in 
the  earth. 

La  Salle  now  ascended  again  to  Illinois,  and  despatched 
Father  Z.enobius  Membre  to  France  to  lay  an  account  of  his 
voyage  before  the  government.  He  sailed  from  Quebec  on 
the  15th  of  November  witii  Frontenac,  and  the  course  of  the 
Mississippi  was  known  in  France  before  the  close  of  1682.* 

The  next  year  La  Salle  himself  reached  France,  and  set 
out  by  sea  to  reach  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi ;  he  never 
again  beheld  it ;  but  Tonty  seeking  him,  had  again  descended 
to  the  mouth,  and  it  was  soon  constantly  travelled  by  the  ad- 
venturous trader,  and  still  more  adventurous  missionary.  A 
Spanish  vessel  under  Andrew  de  Pes,  entered  the  mouth  soon 
after;  but,  on  the  2d  of  March,  1699,  the  Canadian  Iberville, 
more  fortunate  than  La  Salle,  entered  it  with  Father  Anasta- 
sius  Douay,  who  had  accompanied  that  unfortunate  adven- 
turer on  his  last  voyage.f  Missionaries  from  Canada  soon 
came  to  greet  him,  and  La  Sueur  ascended  the  Mississippi  to 
St.  Peter's  river,  and  built  a  log  fort  on  its  blue-earth  tributary. 

Henceforward  all  was  progress ;  we  might  now  trace  the 
labors  of  those  who  explored  each  mighty  tributary,  and  watch 
the  progress  of  each  rising  town ;  we  might  follow  down  the 
first  cargo  of  wheat,  or  look  with  the  anxiety  of  the  day  at 
the  first  crop  of  sugar  and  of  cotton  ;  but  this  were  to  write 
the  history  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  and  we  undertook  only 
that  of  its  discovery.  Our  work  is  done.  We  turn  now  to 
trace  the  life  of  its  first  French  explorers. 

*  The  works  on  La  Salle's  voyages,  besides  Hennepin  already  noticed,  are, 
1.  Etablisucment  de  la  Foi,  Ac.,  par  le  P.  Chretien  Le  Clorcq,  Paris,  1691.  2.  Ber 
nieres  deconverten,  Ac.,  par  le  Chev.  de  Tonty,  Paris,  1697.  3.  Journal  Ilistorique, 
Ac.,  par  M.  Joutel,  Paris,  Ill3. 

f  Hidorical  Collections  of  Louisiana,  vol.  iil,  p.  14. 


ill 


lull 

IMIII, 


Kill';!: 


!!l!!!l 


i';^; 


i 


!M|'l 

ill    '' 
>' 
r   ' 


iiil' 


HI' 

lii'i 


I!!/' 


!!!!!ii 


J 


»"<  ii'i 


iiliiillilJij 


ii;iii|liii| 


P!li 


I 


LIFE 


OF 


FATHER  JAMES  MARQUETTE, 


OF  THE   SOCIETY  OF   JESUS, 


FIRST  EXPLORER  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 


NEAR  a  little  branch  of  the  river  Oise,  in  the  department 
of  Aisne,  the  traveller  finds  perched  on  the  mountain- 
side the  small  but  stately  city  of  Laon.  Strong  fortifications 
without,  and  a  vast  cathedral  within,  show  that  in  former 
days  it  was  one  of  those  cities  which  were  constantly  replete 
with  life  and  movement  in  the  endless  contests  between  noble 
and  noble,  and  not  unfrequently  between  the  suzerain  himself 
and  his  more  powerful  vassal. 

The  most  ancient  family  in  this  renowned  city,  is  that  of 
Marquette,  and  in  its  long  annals  we  find  the  highest  civic 
honors  borne  almost  constantly  by  members  of  that  illustrious 
rac'j.  It  already  held  an  important  place  in  the  reign  of  Louis 
the  young,  and  its  armorial  bearings  still  commemorate  the 
devotedness  of  the  sieur  James  Marquette,  sheriff  of  Laon,  to 
the  cause  of  his  royal  master,  the  unfortunate  John  of  France, 
in  1360. 

A  martial  spirit  has  always  characterized  this  citizen 
family,  and  its  members  have  constantly  figured  in  the  daz- 


"•'^ 


xiii 


LIFE  OF  FATHER   MARQUETTE. 


m,r.-M: 


E|l  '"'111! 


\i"H' 


1':illl||ji(;| 

i.'!;-';  il»i 


■  "   i  I'l,  Ml.    ' 


i''i 


ii'ii 


zling  wars  of  France.  Our  own  republic  is  not  without  its 
obligations  to  the  valor  of  the  Marquettes,  three  of  whom  died 
Lere  m  the  French  army  during  the  Hevolutionary  war. 

Yet  not  their  liigh  antiquity  nor  their  reckless  valor  would 
ever  have  given  the  name  of  Marquette  to  fame ;  the  un- 
sought tribute  which  it  has  acquired  among  us,  is  due  to  the 
labors  of  one  who  renounced  the  enjoyments  of  country  and 
home  to  devote  his  days  to  the  civilization  and  conversion  of 
our  Indian  tribes;  who  died  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  worn 
down  by  toil,  in  a  lonely,  neglected  spot,  whose  name  eveiy 
effort  was  made  to  enshrine  in  oblivion,  but  who  has  been  at 
last,  by  the  hand  of  strangers,  raised  on  a  lofty  pedestal 
among  the  great,  the  good,  and  the  holy,  who  have  honored 
our  land  ;  the  family  is  known  to  us  only  as  connected  with 
Father  James  Marquette  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  the  first  ex- 
plorer of  the  Mississippi. 

Born  at  the  ancient  seat  of  his  family,  in  the  year  1637,  be 
was,  through  his  pious  mother  Eose  de  la  Salle,  allied  to  the 
venerable  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle,  the  founder  of  the  insti- 
tute known  as  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  whose 
services  in  the  cause  of  gratuitous  education  of  the  poor  had 
instructed  thousands  before  any  of  the  modern  systems  of 
public  schools  had  been  even  conceived.*  From  his  pious 
mother  the  youthful  Marquette  imbibed  that  warm,  generous, 
and  unwavering  devotion  to  the  mother  of  God,  which  makes 
liim  so  conspicuous  among  her  servants.  None  but  a  mother 
could  have  infused  such  a  filial  affection  for  Mary. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  his  heart,  detached  from  this  world 
and  all  its  bright  allurements,  impelled  him  to  enter  the  So- 
ciety of  Jesus,  as  he  did  in  the  year  1654.    When  the  two 

*  ])«vi8me  Ilistoire  de  la  Ville  de  Laon.  A  member  of  his  family,  Francis 
Marquette,  founded  similar  schools  for  girls,  in  1685,  and  the  religious  were  com- 
monly called  Soeurs  Marquette. 


<!1 


LIFE   OF  FATHER   MARQUETTE. 


xllii 


3t  without  its 
»f  whom  died 
iry  war. 
i  valor  would 
me ;  the  un- 
is  due  to  the 
country  and 
!on  vers  ion  of 
youth,  worn 

name  every 
)  has  been  at 
>fty  pedestal 
lave  honored 
rinected  with 
,  the  first  ex- 
ear  1637,  he 
allied  to  the 
of  the  insti- 
hools,  whose 
the  poor  had 

systems  of 
)ra  his  pious 
m,  generous, 
vhich  makes 
3ut  a  mother 

Y- 

in  this  world 
inter  the  So- 
ben  the  two 

family,  Francis 
?iou8  were  com- 


years  of  self  study  and  examination  had  passed  away,  lie  was 
as  is  usual  with  the  young  Jesuits,  employed  in  teaching  or 
study,  and  twelve  years  glided  away  in  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  the  unostentatious  duties  assigned  him.  No 
sooner,  however,  was  he  invested  with  the  sacred  character 
of  the  priesthood,  than  his  ardent  desire  to  become  in  all 
things  an  imitator  of  his  chosen  patron,  St.  Francis  Xavier, 
induced  him  to  seek  a  mission  in  some  land  that  knew  not 
God,  that  he  might  labor  there  to  his  latest  breath,  and  die 
unaided  and  alone. 

The  province  of  Champagne  in  which  he  was  enrolled  con- 
tained no  foreign  mission:  he  was  transferred  to  that  of 
France,  and,  in  1666,  sailed  for  Canada.  On  the  20th  of 
September  he  landed,  buoyant  with  life  and  health,  at  Que- 
bec, and  amid  his  brethren  awaited  the  new  destination  on 
which  his  superiors  should  decide.* 

The  moment  of  his  arrival  was  one  of  deep  interest  in  the 
religious  history  of  a  colony,  which  had  in  its  early  settlement 
so  nobly  represented  the  purest  Catholicity,  neither  hampered 
by  civil  jealousy,  nor  unhearted  by  the  cold  and  selfish  policy 
of  a  pagan  age.  The  halcyon  days  of  the  Canadian  church 
were  passing  away,  but  God  had  raised  up  one  to  guide  and 
guard  his  church,  that  is,  in  fact,  his  poor  and  little  ones,  in 
the  coming  struggle  with  worldliness  and  policy.  This  was 
Francis  de  Laval,  who  landed  at  Quebec  in  1659,  with  the 
title  of  bishop  of  Petrea,  and  vicar  apostolic  of  New  France. 
Gradually  he  gathered  around  him  a  few  secular  priests  and 
began  to  settle  the  ecclesiastical  afiairs  of  the  French  posts, 
till  then  mere  missions  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  At  the 
period  of  Marquette's  arrival,  he  had  already  begun  to  see  his 
diocese  assume  a  regular  shape,  his  clergy  had  increased,  his 

*  Jour.  Sup.  Jos. 


xUv 


LIFE   OF    FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


n'""iii 


i  I  .    il 


■:l     ,.      Ill 


il'i'ii 


rj;"i!ii'!"'i. 


i"''i. 


iiitii 


catheclml  and  seiiunary  were  rapidly  rising.  The  war  with 
the  Iroquois  which  had  so  long  checked  the  prosperity  of  the 
colony,  and  the  hopes  of  the  missionaries,  was  at  last  brought 
to  a  successful  issue  by  the  efforts  of  the  viceroy  de  Tracy, 
and  a  new  field  was  opened  for  the  missions. 

These  had  always  been  an  object  of  his  deep  solicitude ; 
the  wide  west  especially  was  a  field  which  he  sighed  to  pen- 
etrate himself,  cross  in  hand,  but  this  could  not  be.  As 
early  as  1660,  from  the  new  impulse  thus  given,  an  Ottawa 
mission  was  resolved  upon,  and  the  veteran  Menard,  one  of 
the  last  survivors  of  the  old  Huron  mission,  cheered  by  the 
parting  words  of  his  holy  bishop,  embarked  to  raise  the  cross 
of  Sault  St.  Mary's,  which  his  companions  Jogues  and  Raym- 
baut  had  planted  twenty  years  before.  He  bore  it  on  to 
Keweena  bay  in  Lake  Superior,  and  while  full  of  projects  for 
reaching  the  Sioux  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  died  in  the 
woods,  a  victim  to  famine  or  the  hatchet  of  the  roving  Indian. 
At  the  time  of  Marquette's  arrival.  Father  AUouez  was  there 
exploring  parts  which  no  white  man  had  yet  visited,  and  as 
he  saw  a  wide  field  opening  before  his  view,  earnestly  im- 
ploring a  new  missionary  reinforcement. 

Such  was  the  Ottawa  mission ;  but  there  were  others  also. 
Father  Jogues  thus  associated  with  the  earliest  western  dis- 
coveries, had  penetrated  into  New  York,  and  reddening  the 
Mohawk  with  his  life's  blood,  brought  it  within  the  bounds 
of  catholicity.  From  this  moment  New  York  was  a  land 
which  each  missionary  ambitioned ;  visited  successively  by 
two  more  as  prisoners,  their  sufferings  and  blood  confirmed 
the  title  of  the  missionaries,  and,  in  1654,  Father  Simon  le 
Moyne  visited  Onondaga,  and  gave  the  first  account  of  west- 
em  New  York.  A  mission  was  established  the  next  year, 
and  the  missionaries  explored  the  whole  state  from  the  Hud- 


;:iiii|i 


LIFE   OF    FATHER   MARQUKTTE. 


xlv 


le  war  with 
perity  of  the 
last  brought 
Y  dQ  Tracy, 

)  solicitude; 
^hed  to  pen- 
[lot  be.  As 
I,  an  Ottawa 
lard,  one  of 
ered  by  the 
ise  the  cross 
and  Raym- 
)re  it  on  to 
'  projects  for 
died  in  the 
v'mg  Indian, 
jz  was  there 
lited,  and  as 
irnestly  im- 

others  also, 
tvestern  dis- 
idening  the 
the  bounds 
was  a  land 
lessively  by 
confirmed 
!r  Simon  le 
unt  of  west- 
next  year, 
n  the  Ilwd- 


■Si. 


son  to  the  Niagara;  but  a  sudden  change  took  place  — a  plot 
was  funned  against  the  French  colony  at  Onoiulngii,  luul  this 
first  mission  was  crushed  in  its  infancy,  after  a  brief  existence 
of  three  years.  The  war  which  ensued  made  Caiiiula  itself 
tremble,  and  a  new  mission  in  New  York  was  nut  even 
thought  of;  the  attempt  to  renew  that  in  Michigan  is,  indeed, 
one  of  the  hardiest  undertakings  in  the  annals  of  the  Jesuit 
missions,  and  a  noble  monument  of  their  fearless  zeal.  But 
now  the  tree  of  peace  was  planted,  the  war-pnrties  had 
ceased,  and  missionaries  hastened  to  the  Iroquois  cantons, 
which,  for  nearly  twenty  years,  were  to  be  so  well  instructed 
in  the  truths  of  Christianity,  that  even  now  the  catholic  Iro- 
quois abnost  outnumber  the  rest  of  their  countrymen. 

Another  great  mission  of  tlie  time  was  that  of  the  Abnakis, 
in  Maine,  founded  by  Druillettes  in  1647,  and  continued  by 
him  at  intervals  until  it  became  at  last  the  permanent  resi- 
dence of  several  zealous  men. 

Besides  these  were  the  missions  of  the  wandering  Algon- 
quins  of  the  river,  which  centred  at  Slllery  and  Three  Rivers, 
but  had  been  almost  entirely  destroyed  by  the  Iroqiiois  after 
the  destruction  of  the  Huron  missions  and  depopuhition  of 
Upper  Canada.  These  expiring  missions  the  Jesuits  still 
maintained  ;  but  another  and  a  harder  field  was  that  of  the 
Montagnais,  of  which  Tadoussac  was  the  centre.  Here  at  the 
mouth  of  that  strange  river,  the  Saguenay,  which  pours  its 
almost  fathomless  tide  into  the  shallower  St.  Lawrence,  is  the 
oft-mentioned  post  of  Tadoussac.  For  a  few  weeks  each  year, 
it  was  a  scene  of  busy,  stirring  life;  Indians  of  every  petty 
tribe  from  tlie  Esquimaux  of  Labrador,  to  the  Micmac  of 
Nova  Scotia,  came  to  trade  with  the  French.  Here,  then,  a 
missionary  was  always  found  to  instruct  them  as  nmcli  as  time 
permitted,  and  when  foiuid  sntfioiently  acquainted   with  the 


K.niir 


I 


II 


inii! 


'Im 


''., 


m\ 


i! 


|ill|| 


•I'  ,.    !!li 
ilk 

lin''-""!!!!.:! 


«■;,,, 


ii-i 


i!  ■     'I 


■        ,1    ;'ii 


'i'lii! 


\m 


xlvi 


LIFK   OF   FATIIKll    MAKtilMinK. 


mysteries  of  our  fiiitli,to  baptize  tlieni.  The  Christian  Indian 
always  repaired  to  this  jiost  to  fulfil  the  obligations  of  tho 
church,  to  lay  down  the  burthen  of  sin,  to  receive  the  bread 
of  life,  and  then  depart  for  tho  wilderness  with  his  calendar 
and  pin  to  be  able  to  distinguish  the  Sundays  and  holydays; 
and  thus  amid  the  snows  and  crags  join  in  the  prayers  and 
devotions  of  the  universal  church.  When  the  trade  was  over, 
a  new  field  lay  before  the  missionary ;  tho  country  was  to  be 
traversed  in  every  direction  to  carry  tho  light  of  faith  from 
cabin  to  cabin,  to  exhort,  instruct,  confirm.  These  adventur- 
ous expeditions  through  parts  still  a  wilderness,  are  full  of  in- 
terest, and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  are  rife  with  early  notices 
of  our  western  country;  they  reached  from  the  Saguenay  to 
Hudson's  bay,  and  stretching  westward,  almost  reached  Lake 
Superior. 

This  mission  required  one  full  of  life,  zeal,  and  courage, 
and  to  it  Father  Marquette  vas  in  the  first  instance  destined. 
The  Montagnais  was  the  key  language  to  the  various  tribes, 
and  as  early  as  the  tenth  of  October,^  we  find  him  starting 
for  Three  Rivers  to  begin  the  study  of  that  language  under 
Father  Gabriel  Druilletes.  While  thus  engaged,  liis  leisure 
hours  were  of  course  devoted  to  the  exercise  of  his  ministry, 
and  here  he  remained  until  April,  1668,  when  the  first  proj- 
ect was  abandoned,  and  he  was  ordered  to  prepare  for  the 
Ottawa  mission,  as  that  of  Lake  Superior  was  then  called. 
He  had  by  this  time  acquired  also  a  knowledge  of  the  Al- 
gonquin, and  thus  fitted  for  his  new  mission,  he  letl  Quebec  on 
the  21st  of  April  with  three  companions  for  Montreal,  where 
he  was  to  await  the  Ottawa  flotilla,  which  was  to  bear  him 
westward.  A  party  of  Nt'zperces  came  at  last,  bearing 
Father  Nicholas  Louis,  the  conq>aiiion  of  Allonez,  and  with 

*  Jdiir.  Slip.  Jfs, 


I 


LIFE  OF  FATIIKR   MARQUETTE. 


xlvii 


ristinn  Iiidinn 
Rations  of  tlio 
ivo  the  bread 

his  calendar 
nd  holidays; 
I  prayers  and 
ade  was  over, 
try  was  to  be 
of  faith  from 
ese  adventur- 
are  full  of  in- 
i  early  notices 

Saguenay  to 
reached  Lake 

and  courage, 
ince  destined, 
arious  tribes, 

him  starting 
iguage  under 
k1,  liis  leisure 

his  ministry, 
the  first  proj- 
epare  for  the 

then  called, 
ge  of  the  Al- 
3ft  Quebec  on 
iitreal,  where 
I  to  bear  him 
last,  bearing 
lez,  and  with 


:-4 


them  Father  Marquette  embarked.  The  jonniey  up  the  Ot- 
tawa river,  and  through  French  river  to  Luke  Huron,  and 
then  across  that  inland  sea  to  Sault  St.  Mary's,  lias  been  too 
often  and  too  vividly  described  to  need  repetition  here.  Its 
toil  and  danger  are  associated  with  the  accounts  of  all  the 
early  Huron  missionaries. 

When  he  reached  Lake  Superior,  Marquette  found  that  the 
tribes  whom  fear  of  the  L'oquois  had  driven  to  the  extremity 
of  the  lake,  were  now  returning  to  their  former  abodes.  New 
missions  were  thus  required,  and  it  was  resolved  to  erect  two, 
one  at  Sault  St.  Mary's,  the  other  in  Green  Bay.  The  former 
was  assigned  to  Father  Marquette,  and  planting  his  cabin  at 
the  foot  of  the  rapid  on  the  American  side,  he  began  his  mis- 
sionary career.  Here,  in  the  following  year,  he  was  joined 
by  Father  Dablon,  as  superior  of  the  Ottawa  missions,  and 
by  their  united  exertion,  a  church  was  soon  built ;  and  thus, 
at  last,  a  sanctuary  worthy  of  the  faith  raised  at  that  cradle 
of  Christianity  in  the  west. 

The  tribes  to  which  he  ministered  directly  here  were  all 
Algonquin,  and  numbered  about  two  thousand  souls.  They 
showed  the  greatest  docility  to  his  teaching,  and  would  all 
gladly  have  received  baptism,  but  caution  was  needed,  and 
the  prudent  missionary  contented  himself  for  a  time  with 
giving  them  clear,  distinct  instructions,  and  with  efforts  to  root 
out  all  lurking  superstitions,  conferring  the  sacrament  only  on 
the  dying.  The  missionary's  first  lesson  was,  "  to  learn  to  la- 
bor and  to  wait."* 

His  stay  at  the  Sault  among  the  Pahwitting-dach-irini, 
Outchibous,  Maramegs,  &c.,  was  not,  however,  to  be  of  long 
duration.  Father  AUouez  departed  for  Green  Bay,  and  a 
missionary  was  to  be  sent  to  Lapointe  to  continue  the  dis- 


Jiel.  1668-69,  p.  102. 


lil'iN, 


^"ii 


'id 


;||,... 


t"  '1!' 

r"'iii'"'p"i 


'^'iC'i'ltliiiHI 


t  '"hi.i'^'i, 


'i|. 


Ih 


(•t 


ipi'iiil 


]!l 


xlviii 


LIFE  OF  FATIIKR   MARQUETTE. 


lieartenin<T  labors  of  lliat  uiigmteful  field.  Mnrqnetto  waa 
choflcn.  Without  repugnance  lie  sot  out  for  his  new  station 
in  the  autjiinn  of  1G09.  Wo  can  not  better  depict  his  labors 
than  by  inserting  at  length  the  letter  descriptive  ofhismia- 
eion,  wliich  he  addressed  to  Father  Francis  Lo  Morcier,  the 
superior  of  the  missions  in  tie  following  year. 

"Reverknd  Father, 

"  TiiR  Peace  of  CiiRisT.f 

"  I  am  obliged  to  render  you  an  account  of  the  mission  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  among  the  Ottawas,  according  to  the  orders  I 
received  from  you  and  again  from  Father  Dablon  on  my  arri- 
val here,  after  a  month's  navigation  on  snow  and  through  ice 
which  closed  my  way,  and  kept  me  in  constant  peril  of  life. 

"  Divine  Providence  having  destined  me  to  continue  the 
mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost  begun  by  Father  Allouez,  who  had 
baptized  the  chiefs  of  the  Kiskakonk,  I  arrived  there  on  the 
thirteenth  of  September,  and  went  to  visit  the  Indians  who 
were  in  the  clearings  which  are  divided  into  five  towns.  The 
Hurons  to  the  number  of  about  four  or  five  hundred,  almost 
all  baptized,  still  preserve  some  little  Christianity.  A  num- 
ber of  the  chiefs  assembled  in  council,  were  at  firet  well 
pleased  to  see  me ;  but  I  explained  that  I  did  not  yet  know 
their  language  perfectly,  and  that  no  other  missionary  was 
coming,  both  because  all  had  gone  to  the  Iroquois,  and  be- 
cause Father  Allouez,  who  understood  them  perfectly,  did 
not  wish  to  return  that  winter,  as  they  did  not  love  the  prayer 
enough.  They  acknowledged  that  it  was  a  just  punishment, 
and  during  the  winter  held  talks  about  it,  and  resolved  to 
amend,  as  they  tell  me. 

f  For  tlie  benefit  of  investigntors  of  mnnnscripts  I  would  remnrlc  that  these 
words,  or  ihc  letters  P.  C.  nnd  a  cross  nt  tlie  top  of  llie  pnge,  nro  nlone  almost 
BufficieDt  to  show  a  ptiper  to  be  written  by  oik?  of  the  Jesuit  niissionnries. 


LIFK  OF   FATIIEtt   MAKliUKTTE. 


xlix 


rquetto  waa 
new  station 
ct  his  labors 
0  of  his  mis- 
Morcior,  the 


0  mission  of 
the  orders  I 

i  on  niy  arri- 

1  through  ice 
)eril  of  life, 
continue  the 
iicz,  who  had 

there  on  the 
Indians  who 
towns.  The 
dred,  almost 
;y.  A  nura- 
at  first  well 
ot  j'et  know 
3sionary  was 
uois,  and  be- 
erfectly,  did 
e  the  prayer 
punishment, 
resolved  to 


mnrk  that  these 
nrc  nlnne  almost 
irionnries. 


"The  nation  of  the  Outaouaks  Sinngaux  is  far  from  the 
kingdom  of  Oud,  being  above  all  other  nations  addicted  to 
lewdness,    sacrifices,    and    juggleries.      Tlicy    ridicule    the 
prayer,  and   will  scarcely  hear  us  speak  of  Christianity. 
They  are  proud  and  undeveloped,  and  I  think  that  so  little 
can  bo  done  with  this  tribe,  that  I  have  not  baptized  healthy 
infante  who  seem  likely  to  live,  watching  only  for  such  as  are 
fiick.    Tlie  Indians  of  tlio  Kinouche  tribe  declare  openly  that 
it  is  not  yet  time.    There  are,  however,  two  men  among  them 
formerly  baptized.     One  now  rather  old,  is  looked  upon  as  a 
kind  of  miracle  among  the  Indians,  having  always  refused  to 
marry,  persisting  in  this  resolution   in  spite  of  all  that  had 
been  said.    lie  has  suffered  much  even  from  his  relatives, 
but  he  is  as  little  affected   by  this  as  by  the  loss  of  all  the 
goods  which  he  brought  last  year  from  the  settlement,  not 
having  even  enough  left  to  cover  him.    These  are  hard  trials 
for  Indians,  who  generally  seek  only  to  possess  much  in  this 
world.    The  other,  a  new-married  young  man,  seems  of  an- 
other nature  than  the  rest.    The  Indians  extremely  attached 
to  their  reveries  had  resolved  that  a  certain  number  of  young 
women  should   prostitute  themselves,  each  to  choose  such 
partner  as  she  liked.    No  one  in  these  cases  ever  refuses,  as 
the  lives  of  men  are  supposed  to  depend  on  it.    This  young 
Christian  was  called ;  on  entering  the  cabin  he  saw  the  orgies 
which  were  about  to  begin,  and  feigning  illness  immediately 
left,  and  though  they  came  to  call  him  back,  he  refused  to 
go.    His  confession  was  as  prudent  as  it  could  be,  and  I  won- 
dered that  an  Indian  could  live  so  innocently,  and  so  nobly 
profess  himself  a  Christian.    His  mother  and  some  of  his 
sisters  are  also  good  Christians.    The  Ottawas,  extremely  su- 
perstitious in  their  feasts  and  juggleries,  seem  hardened  to  the 
instructions  given  them,  yet  they  like  to  have  their  children 


iiliiiiii 


■W!i, 


l!l|lljl|  y 


h 


;i.:i-. 


■■!■'" 


iillli 


i'!'ii 


!""!l!, 
!""'lj 


i;i-''f'"i|^ 


Ulii! 


1 


LIFE   OF  FATIIKR   MARQUKTTE. 


baptized.    God  permitted  a  woman  to  die  this  winter  in  her 
Bin ;  her  ilhiess  had  been  concealed  from  me,  and  I  heard  it 
only  by  the  report  that  she  had  asked  a  very  improper  dance 
for  her  cure.    I  immediately  went  to  a  cabin  where  all  the 
chiefs  were  at  a  feast,  and  some  Kiskakonk  Christians  among 
them.    "To  these  I  exposed  the  impiety  of  the  woman  and  her 
medicine-men,  and  gave  them  proper  instructions.     I  then 
spoke  to  all  present,  and  God  permitted  that  an  old  Ottawa 
rose  to  advise,  granting  what  I  asked,  as  it  made  no  matter, 
he  said,  if  the  woman  did  die.    An  old  Christian  then  rose 
and  told  the  nation  that  they  must  stop  the  licentiousness  of 
their  youth,  and  not  permit  Christian  girls  to  take  part  in  such 
dances.  To  satisfy  the  woman,  some  child's  play  was  substitu- 
ted for  the  dance;   but  this  did  not  prevent  her  dying  before 
morning.    The  dangerous  state  of  a  sick  young  man  caused 
the  medicine-men  to  proclaim  that  the  devil  must  be  invoked 
by  extraordinary  superstitions.    The  Christians  took  no  part. 
The  actors  were  these  jugglers  and  the  sick  man,  who  was 
passed  over  great  fires  lighted  in  every  cabin.    It  was  said 
that  he  did  not  feel  the  heat,  although  his  body  liad  been 
greased  with  oil  for  five  or  six  days.    Men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, ran  through  the  cabins  asking  as  a  riddle  to  divine 
their  thoughts,  and  the  successful  guesser  was  glad  to  give 
the  object  named.     I  prevented  the  abominable  lewdness  so 
common  at  the  end  of  these  diabolical  rites.     I  do  not  think 
they  will  recur,  as  the  sick  man  died  soon  after. 

"The  nation  of  Kiskakons,*  which  for  three  years  refused 
to  receive  the  gospel  preached  them  by  Father  Allouez,  re- 

*  Father  Allouez,  in  the  Relation  of  1668-69,  does  not  use  the  term  Kiskakon^ 
He  calls  them  Queues  coupes,  and  states  that  they  had  formerly  lived  on  Lake 
Huron,  where  they  had  been  visited  by  the  old  Huron  missionaries,  and  had  been 
first  visited  by  Mennrd  on  Lake  Superior.  I  add  this  to  my  cubaequent  note  on 
them,  as  it  may  throw  some  new  light  on  their  original  position. 


1 


0 


LIFE   OF   FATIIKE   MARQUETTE. 


11 


inter  in  her 
d  I  heard  it 
roper  dance 
liere  all  the 
tians  among 
nan  and  her 
08.  I  then 
old  Ottawa 
e  no  matter, 
m  then  rose 
itiousness  of 
part  in  such 
kvas  substitn- 
iying  before 
man  caused 
t  be  invoked 
Dok  no  part, 
an,  who  was 

It  was  said 
ly  had  been 
en,  and  chil- 
le  to  divine 
ejlad  to  give 

lewdness  so 
do  not  think 

'ears  refused 
Allouez,  re- 

'  term  Kiskiikon^ 
ly  lived  on  Lake 
es,  nnd  lind  been 
^sequent  not«  on 


I 


solved,  in  tlie  full  of  1668,  to  obey  God.  This  resolution  was 
adopted  in  full  council,  and  announced  to  that  father  who 
spent  four  winter  months  instructing  them.  The  chiefs  of  the 
nation  became  Christians,  and  as  Father  Allouez  was  called 
to  another  mission,  he  gave  it  to  my  charge  to  cultivate,  and 
I  entered  on  it  in  September,  1669. 

"  All  the  Christians  were  then  in  the  fields  harvesting  their 
Indian  corn;  they  listened  with  pleasure  when  I  told  them 
that  I  came  to  Lapointe  for  their  sake  and  that  of  the  Hu- 
rons;  that  they  never  should  be  abandoned,  but  be  beloved 
above  .all  other  nations,  and  that  they  and  the  French  were 
one.  I  had  the  consolation  of  seeing  their  love  for  the  prayer 
and  their  pride  in  being  Cliristians.  I  baptized  the  new-born 
infants,  and  instructed  the  chiefs  whom  I  found  well-dis- 
posed. The  head-chief  having  allowed  a  dog  to  be  hung  on 
a  pole  near  his  cabin,  which  is  a  kind  of  sacrifice  the  Indians 
make  to  the  sun,  I  told  him  that  this  was  wrong,  and  he 
went  and  threw  it  down. 

"  A  sick  man  instructed,  but  not  baptized,  begged  me  to 
grant  him  that  favor,  or  to  live  near  him,  as  he  did  not  wish 
medicine-men  to  cure  him,  and  that  he  feared  the  fires  of 
hell.  I  prepared  him  for  baptism,  and  frequently  visited  his 
cabin.  His  joy  at  this  partly  restored  his  health  ;  he  thanked 
me  for  my  care,  and  soon  after  saying  that  I  had  recalled 
him  to  life,  gave  me  a  little  slave  he  had  brought  from  the 
Ilinois  two  or  three  months  before. 

"One  evening,  while  in  the  cabin  of  the  Christian  where  I 
sleep,  I  taught  him  to  pray  to  his  guardian-angel,  and  told 
him  some  stories  to  show  him  the  assistance  they  give  us,  es- 
peciiilly  when  in  danger  of  offending  God.  'Now,'  said  he, 
'I  know  the  invisible  hand  that  strnck  me  when,  since  my 
baptism,  I  was  going  to  commit  a  sin,  and  the  voice  that  bid 


m 


LIFE  OF  FATIIKR   MARQUETTE. 


lii',:       111'"', 

S|i|iiiiiiijiiiiii 


'•'hi 


''ii!jiui|ijiiii 


:|ll| 


\ii 


me  remember  tliat  I  was  a  Christian  ;  fori  left  tlie  companion 
of  my  guilt  without  committing  the  sin.'  He  now  often 
Bpeaks  of  devotion  to  the  angels,  and  explains  it  to  the  other 
Indians. 

"  Some  young  Christian  women  are  examples  to  the  tribe, 
and  are  not  ashamed  to  profess  Christianity.  Marriages 
among  the  Indians  are  dissolved  almost  as  easily  as  they  are 
made,  and  then  it  is  no  dishonor  to  marry  again.  Hearing 
that  a  young  Christian  woman  abandoned  by  her  husband 
was  in  danger  of  being  forced  to  marry  by  her  family,  I  en- 
couraged her  to  act  as  a  Christian  ;  she  has  kept  her  word. 
Not  a  breath  has  been  uttered  against  lier.  This  conduct, 
with  my  remonstrances,  induced  the  husband  to  take  her 
back  again  at  the  close  of  winter,  since  which  time  she  has 
come  regularly  to  the  chapel,  for  she  was  too  fur  off  before. 
She  has  im bosomed  her  conscience  to  me,  and  I  admired 
such  a  life  in  a  young  woman. 

"  The  pagans  make  no  feast  without  sacrifices,  and  we  have 
great  trouble  to  prevent  them.  The  Christians  have  now 
changed  these  customs,  and  to  effect  it  more  easily,  I  have 
retained  some,  suppressing  only  what  is  really  bad.  The 
feast  must  open  with  a  speech ;  they  then  address  God,  ask- 
ing him  for  health  and  all  they  need,  as  they  now  give  food 
to  men.  It  has  pleased  God  to  preserve  all  our  Christians  in 
health  except  two  children  whom  they  tried  to  hide,  and  for 
whom  a  medicine-man  performed  his  diabolic  rites,  but  they 
died  soon  after  my  baptizing  them. 

Having  invited  the  Kiskakons  to  come  and  winter  near  the 
chapel,  they  left  all  the  other  tribes  to  gather  around  us  so  as 
to  be  able  to  pray  to  God,  be  instructed,  and  liave  their 
children  baptized.  They  call  tht'niselves  Christians;  lience, 
in  all  councils  and  important  affairs,  I  address  them,  and 


i 


i 


J 


I    ;''ll' 


LIFE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


111 


compnnion 

now  often 

to  the  other 

to  the  tribe, 
Marriages 
as  they  are 
(i.  Hearing 
ler  husband 
family,  I  en- 
3t  her  word. 

L 

'liis  conduct, 
to  take  her 
time  she  haa 
ivr  off  before, 
i  I  admired 

and  we  liave 
ts  have  now 
asily,  I  have 
bad.  The 
}88  God,  ask- 
ow  give  food 
Ciiristians  in 
hide,  and  for 
ites,  but  they 

nter  near  the 
)und  U8  80  as 
1  have  their 
ians;  licncc, 
is  them,  and 


when  I  wish  to  show  them  that  I  really  wish  what  I  ask,  I 
need  only  address  them  as  Christians ;  they  told  mo  even 
that  they  obeyed  me  for  that  reason.  They  have  taken  the 
upper  hand,  and  control  the  three  other  tribes.  It  is  a  great 
consolation  to  a  missionary  to  see  such  pliancy  in  savages, 
and  thus  live  in  such  peace  with  his  Indians,  spending  the 
whole  day  in  instructing  them  in  our  mystp.ries,  and  teaching 
them  the  prayers.  Neither  the  rigor  of  the  winter,  nor  the 
state  of  the  weather,  prevents  their  coming  to  the  chapel ; 
many  never  let  a  day  pass,  and  I  was  thus  busily  employed 
from  morning  till  night,  preparing  some  for  baptism,  some  for 
confession,  disabusing  others  of  their  reveries.  The  old  men 
told  me  that  the  young  men  had  lost  their  senses,  and  that  I 
must  stop  their  excesses.  I  often  spoke  to  them  of  their 
daughters,  urging  them  to  prevent  their  being  visited  at 
night.  I  knew  almost  all  that  passed  in  two  tribes  near  us, 
but  though  others  were  spoken  of,  I  never  heard  anything 
against  the  Christian  women,  and  when  I  spoke  to  the  old 
men  about  their  daughters,  they  told  me  that  they  prayed  to 
God.  I  often  Inculcated  this,  knowing  the  importunities 
to  which  they  are  constantly  exposed,  and  the  courage  they 
need  to  resist.  They  have  learned  to  be  modest,  and  the 
French  who  have  seen  them,  perceive  how  little  they  resem- 
ble the  others,  from  whom  they  are  thus  distinguished. 

"One  day  instructing  the  old  people  in  my  cabin,  and 
speaking  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  various  stories  from 
the  Old  Testament,  they  told  me  what  they  had  formerly  be- 
lieved, but  now  treat  as  a  fable.  Tiiej'^  have  some  knowledge 
of  the  tower  of  Babel,  saying  that  their  ancestors  had  related 
that  they  had  formerly  made  a  great  house,  but  that  a  violent 
wind  had  thrown  it  down.  They  now  despise  all  the  little 
gods  they  had  before  they  were  baptized  :  they  often  ridicule 


iiilllllll 


■  % 


,'  I 


-I'll 


um 


|i"!! 


mi 


lllffljli'^il^ 


i|l!i 


WM\'<^ 


II] 


illi;i: 


'!":"ii'i""il' 


r'tliii''! 


iiiti. 


|ii!h 


iii:!*!'!! 


ll  if! 


Ijy  LIFE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTB. 

them,  and  wonder  at  their  stupidity  in  sacrificing  to  these 
subjects  of  their  fables. 

"  I  baptized  an  adult  after  a  long  trial.  Seeing  his  assi- 
duity at  prayer,  his  frankness  in  recounting  his  past  life,  his 
promises  especially  with  regard  to  the  other  sex,  and  his  as- 
surance of  good  conduct,  I  yielded  to  his  entreaty.  He  has 
persevered,  and  since  his  return  from  fishing,  comes  regularly 
to  chapel.  After  Easter,  all  the  Indians  dispersed  to  seek 
subsistence ;  they  promised  me  that  they  would  not  forget 
the  prayer,  and  earnestly  begged  that  a  father  should  come  in 
the  fall  when  they  assemble  again.  This  will  be  granted, 
and  if  it  please  God  to  send  some  father,  he  will  take  my 
place,  while  I,  to  execute  the  orders  of  our  father  superior, 
will  go  and  begin  my  Ilinois  mission. 

"The  Ilinois  are  thirty  days'  journey  by  land  from  Lapointe 
by  a  difiicult  road ;  they  lie  south-southwest  of  it.  On  the 
way  you  pass  the  nation  of  the  Ketchigamins,  who  live  in 
more  than  twenty  large  cabins;  they  are  inland,  and  seek  to 
have  intercourse  with  the  French,  from  whom  they  hope  to 
get  axes,  knives,  and  ironware.  So  much  do  they  fear  them 
that  they  unbound  from  the  stake  two  Ilinois  captives,  who 
said,  when  about  to  be  burned,  that  the  Frenchman  had  de- 
clared he  wished  peace  all  over  the  world.  You  pass  then  to 
the  Miamiwek,  and  by  great  deserts  reach  the  Ilinois,  who 
are  assembled  chiefly  in  two  towns,  containing  more  than 
eight  or  nine  thousand  souls.  These  people  are  well  enough 
disposed  to  receive  Christianity.  Since  Father  Allouez  spoke 
to  them  at  Lapointe,  to  adore  one  God,  they  have  begun  to 
abandon  their  false  worship,  for  they  adored  the  sun  and 
thunder.  Those  seen  by  me  are  of  apparently  good  disposi- 
tion ;  they  are  not  night-runners  like  the  other  Indians.  A 
man  kills  his  wife,  if  he  finds  her  unfaithful ;  they  are  less 


'm 


LIFE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


Iv 


ng 


to  these 


ng  Lis  assi- 
past  life,  his 
,  and  his  as- 
ty.  He  has 
les  regularly 
rsed  to  seek 
i  not  forget 
mid  come  in 
be  granted, 
rill  take  my 
her  superior, 

■om  Lapointe 
it.    On  the 
,  who  live  in 
,  and  seek  to 
they  hope  to 
ley  fear  them 
aptives,  who 
iman  had  de- 
pass  then  to 
Ilinois,  who 
more  than 
well  enough 
Ulouez  spoke 
ave  begun  to 
the  sun  and 
good  disposi- 
Indians.    A 
they  are  less 


g 


prodigal  in  sacrifices,  and  promise  me  to  embrace  Christi- 
anity, and  do  all  I  require  in  their  country.  In  this  view, 
the  Ottawas  gave  me  a  young  man  recently  come  from  their 
country,  who  initiated  me  to  some  extent  in  their  language 
during  the  leisure  given  me  in  the  winter  by  the  Indians  at 
Lapointe.  I  could  scarcely  understand  it,  though  there  is 
something  of  the  Algonquin  in  it ;  yet  I  hope  by  the  help  of 
God's  grace  to  understand,  and  be  understood  if  God  by  his 
goodness  leads  me  to  that  country. 

"  No  one  must  hope  to  escape  crosses  in  our  missions,  and 
the  best  means  to  live  happy  is  not  to  fear  them,  but  in  the 
enjoyment  of  little  crosses,  hope  for  othere  still  greater.  The 
Ilinois  desire  us,  like  Indians,  to  share  their  miseries,  and 
suiFer  all  that  can  be  imagined  in  barbarism.  They  are  lost 
eheep  to  be  sought  amid  woods  and  thorns,  especially  when 
they  call  so  piteously  to  be  rescued  from  the  jaws  of  the 
wolf.  Such  really  can  I  call  their  entreaties  to  me  this  win- 
ter. They  have  actually  gone  this  spring  to  notify  the  old 
men  to  come  for  me  in  the  fall. 

"  The  Ilinois  always  come  by  land.  They  sow  maize  which 
they  have  in  great  plenty ;  they  have  pumpkins  as  largo  as 
those  of  France,  and  plenty  of  roots  and  fruit.  The  chase  is 
very  abundant  in  wild-cattle,  bears,  stags,  turkeys,  duck,  bus- 
tard, wild-pigeon,  and  cranes.  They  leave  their  towns  at 
certain  times  every  year  to  go  to  their  hunting-grounds  to- 
gether, so  as  to  be  better  able  to  resist,  if  attacked.  They  be- 
lieve that  I  will  spread  peace  everywhere,  if  I  go,  and  then 
only  the  young  will  go  to  hunt. 

"  When  the  Ilinois  come  to  Lapointe,  they  pass  a  large 
river  almost  a  league  wide.  It  runs  north  and  south,  and  so 
far  that  the  Ilinois,  who  do  not  know  what  canoes  are,  have 
never  yet  heard  of  its  mouth ;  they  only  know  that  there  are 


Ill.lllll 


i  :  !■ 


Ill'l 


!l: 


lllll 


i""n,p;:'' 


'•III 


I'Hl 


II  ! 


li';!! 


lllll, 

I'j'     "' 
I    !!l'!!, 


ill!' 


Ivi 


LIFE   OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


very  great  nations  below  them,  some  of  whom  raise  two 
crops  of  maize  a  year.  East-south-east  of  the  country  is  a  na- 
tion they  call  Chawanon,  which  came  to  visit  them  last  sum- 
mer. The  young  man  given  me  who  teaches  me  the  lan- 
guage saw  them ;  they  wear  beads,  which  shows  intercourse 
with  Europeans ;  they  had  come  thirty  days  across  land  be- 
fore reaching  their  country.  This  great  river  can  hardly 
empty  in  Virginia,  and  we  rather  believe  that  its  mouth  is  in 
California.  If  the  Indians  who  promise  to  make  me  a  canoo 
do  not  fail  to  keep  their  word,  we  shall  go  into  this  river  as 
soon  as  we  can  with  a  Frenchman  and  this  young  man  given 
me,  who  knows  some  of  these  languages,  and  has  a  readiness 
for  learning  others ;  we  shall  visit  the  nations  which  inhabit 
it,  in  order  to  open  the  way  to  so  many  of  our  fathers,  who 
have  long  awaited  this  happiness.  This  discovery  will  give 
us  a  complete  knowledge  of  the  southern  or  western  sea. 

"Six  or  seven  days  below  the  Hois  (sic)  is  another  great 
river  (Missouri),  on  which  are  prodigious  nations,  who  use 
wooden  canoes ;  we  can  not  write  more  till  next  year,  if  God 
does  us  the  grace  to  lead  us  there. 

The  Ilinois  are  warriors ;  they  make  many  slaves  whom 
they  sell  to  the  Ottawas  for  guns,  powder,  kettles,  axes,  and 
knives.  They  were  formerly  at  war  with  the  Nadouessi,  but 
having  made  peace  some  years  since,  I  confirmed  it,  to  facili- 
tate their  coming  to  Lapointe,  where  I  am  going  to  await 
them,  in  order  to  accompany  them  to  their  country. 

The  Nadouessi  are  the  Iroquois  of  this  country  beyond  La- 
pointe, but  less  ftiithless,  and  never  attack  till  attacked.  They 
lie  southwest  of  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  are  a 
great  nation,  though  we  have  not  yet  visited  them,  having 
confined  ourselves  to  the  conversion  of  the  Ottawas.  They 
fear  the  Frenchman,  because  he  brings  iron  into  their  coun- 


■ft- 


LIFE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


M 


om  raise  two 
Duntry  is  a  na- 
hem  last  sum- 
j  me  the  lan- 
ws  intercourse 
icross  land  be- 
jr  can  hardly 
its  mouth  is  in 
ke  me  a  canoo 
o  this  river  as 
mg  man  given 
las  a  readiness 
which  inhabit 
ir  fatliei'8,  who 
jvery  will  give 
jstern  sea. 
another  great 
tions,  who  nso 
:t  year,  if  God 

slaves  whom 
itles,  axes,  and 
S'adonessi,  but 
ed  it,  to  facili- 
oing  to  await 
ntry. 

ry  beyond  La- 
ttacked.  They 
ost,  and  are  a 

them,  having 
ttawas.  They 
nlo  their  coun- 


try. Their  language  is  entirely  different  from  the  Huron  and 
Algonquin ;  they  have  many  towns,  but  they  are  widely  scat- 
tered ;  they  have  very  extraordinary  customs ;  they  princi- 
pally adore  the  calumet;  they  do  not  speak  at  great  feasts, 
and  when  a  stranger  arrives,  give  him  to  eat  with  a  wooden 
fork  as  we  would  a  child.  All  the  lake  tribes  make  war 
on  them,  but  with  small  srccess ;  they  have  false  oats,  use 
little  canoes,  and  keep  their  word  strictly.  I  sent  them  a 
present  by  an  interpreter,  to  tell  them  to  recognise  the 
Frenchman  everywhere,  and  not  kill  him  or  the  Indians  in 
his  company;  tiiat  the  black-gown  wished  to  pass  to  the 
country  of  the  Assinipoiiars,  to  that  of  the  Kilistinaux ;  that 
he  was  already  at  Oiitagamis,  and  that  I  was  going  this  fall 
to  the  Ilinois,  to  whom  they  should  leave  a  free  passage. 
They  agreed  ;  but  as  for  my  present  waited  till  all  came  from 
the  chase,  promising  to  come  to  Lapointe  in  the  fall,  to  hold 
a  council  with  the  Ilinois  and  speak  to  me.  Would  that  all 
these  nations  loved  God,  as  much  as  they  fear  the  French ! 
Christianity  would  soon  flourish. 

"The  Assinipoiiars,  whose  language  is  almost  that  of  the 
Nadonessi,  are  toward  the  west  from  the  mission  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  some  are  fifteen  or  twenty  days  off  on  a  lake  where 
they  have  false  oats  and  abundant  fishery.  I  have  heard 
that  there  is  in  their  country  a  great  river  running  to  the 
western  sea,  and  an  Indian  told  me  that  at  its  mouth  he  saw 
Frenchmen,  and  four  large  canoes  with  sails.* 

'The  Kilistinaux  are  a  nomad  people,  whose  rendezvous 
we  do  not  yet  know.  It  is  northwest  of  the  mission  of  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  they  are  always  in  the  woods,  and  live  solely 
by  their  bow.  They  passed  by  the  mission  where  I  was  last 
fall  in  two  hundred  canoes,  coming  to  buy  merchandise  and 

*  This  ia  not  the  first  indication  of  the  Columbia. 


:i ii! 


ii  it" 


i  I 


I!.! 


illi,,'! 


'i'll,  l;lt„,,!l,.!'| 


M 


<% 


iiilji 


'liilijilliliiii 

liiii 


Hill, 


!i|!l 


f 

:;!|II||| 


'■l"h 


I' 


i.;.ti 

ill!"!! 

Oil 


Vlll 


LIFE  OF  FATHEK  MAUQUETTE. 


corn,  after  which  they  go  to  winter  in  the  woods;   in  tho 
spring  I  saw  them  again  on  the  shore  of  the  lake."* 

Such  is  the  substance  of  his  letter  as  it  has  reached  us,  and 
shows  us  the  hopes  which  Marquette  entertained  of  reaching 
in  the  fall  of  that  year,  the  Ilinois  mission  to  which  he  had 
been  appointed  and  for  which  he  was  now  prepared  by  his 
knowledge  of  their  language.  If  the  Sioux  and  Ilinois  met 
him  at  Lapointe  in  the  fall,  nothing  was  concluded  ;  and  the 
missionary  did  not  begin  his  overland  journey  to  the  lodges 
of  the  Ilinois.  It  is  not,  however,  probable  that  the  meeting 
took  place ;  for  early  in  the  winter  the  Sioux,  provoked  by 
the  insolence  of  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  declared  war,  and 
first  sent  back  to  the  missionaries  the  pious  pictures  which  he 
had  sent  them  as  a  present.  Their  war  parties  now  came  on  in 
their  might,  and  the  Indians  of  Lapointe  trembled  before  the 
fierce  Dahcotali  with  his  knives  of  stone  stuck  in  his  belt,  and 
in  his  long,  black  hair.  In  the  spring  both  Huron  and  Ot- 
tawa resolved  to  leave  so  dangerous  a  neighborhood  ;  tho 
latter  were  the  first  to  launch  upon  tho  hike,  and  they  soon 
made  their  way  to  Ekaentouton  island.  Father  Marquette, 
whose  missionary  efibrts  had  been  neutralized  by  the  unset- 
tled state  of  his  neophytes,  and  the  concentration  of  their 
thoughts  on  the  all-engrossing  war,  was  now  left  alone  with 
the  Ilurons.  With  both  he  had  more  to  suffer  than  to  do ; 
and  now  he  was  at  last  compelled  to  leave  Lapointe,  and  turn 
his  back  on  his  beloved  Ilinois  to  accompany  his  Ilurons  in 
their  wanderings  and  hardships.  The  remnant  of  a  mighty 
nation  resolved  once  more  to  commit  themselves  to  the  waves 
and  seek  a  new  home :  with  their  faithful  missionary  they  all 
embarked  in  their  frail  canoes,  and  now  for  the  first  time 

•  Rel.  1669-70,  Ottawa  part 


I 

■■M 


LIFE  OF  FATIIKB  MARQUETTE. 


lit 


tvoods;   in  tho 

eached  us,  and 
led  of  reaching 
which  he  had 
repared  by  his 
,nd  Ilinois  met 
iided  ;  and  the 
y  to  the  lodges 
at  the  meeting 
,  provoked  by 
lared  war,  and 
:tures  which  he 
low  came  on  in 
bled  before  the 
in  his  belt,  and 
luron  and  Ot- 
iborhood  ;  tho 
and  they  soon 
ler  Maiquette, 
by  the  unset- 
ration  of  their 
left  alone  with 
r  than  to  do ; 
ointe,  and  turn 
his  Ilurons  in 
it  of  a  mighty 
8  to  the  waves 
ionary  they  all 
the  first  time 


>■*;■ 


I 


tunicd  toward  their  ancient  home.  Fain  would  they  have 
revisited  the  scenes  of  Huron  power,  the  land  of  the  fur-lined 
graves  of  their  ancestors ;  fain  too  would  the  missionary  have 
gone  to  spend  his  sui-viving  years  on  the  ground  hallowed  by 
the  blood  of  Duniel,  Brebeuf,  Lalemant,  Gamier,  and  Chaba- 
nel,  but  the  power  of  the  Iroquois  was  still  too  great  to  justify 
the  step,  and  the  fugitives  remembering  the  rich  fisheries  of 
Mackinaw,  resolved  to  return  to  that  pebbly  strand. 

But  who,  the  reader  may  ask,  were  the  Ilurons  with  whom 
the  missionary's  career  seems  thus  linked,  yet  who  at  first 
were  not  the  special  object  of  his  care.  It  is  a  tale  worthy 
of  an  historian. 

The  "Wendats,  whom  the  Fi'ench  called  Ilurons  and  the 
English  "Wyandots,  are  a  nation  of  the  same  stock  as  the  Iro- 
quois.* They  were  one  of  the  first  tribes  known  to  the 
French,  to  whom  they  always  remained  closely  united.  They 
were  a  trading  people,  and  their  many  fortified  towns  lay  in 
a  very  narrow  strip  on  Georgian  Bay,  a  territory  smaller  than 
the  state  of  Delaware.  Between  the  west  and  southwest  lay 
in  the  mountains  the  kindred  tribe  of  the  industrious  Tionon- 
tates,  whooG  luxuriant  fields  of  tobacco,  won  them  from  the 
early  French  the  name  of  Petuns,  while  south  of  both,  from 
Lake  St.  Claire  to  Niagara  and  even  slightly  beyond  were  the 
allied  tribes,  which  from  the  connection  between  their  lan- 
guage and  that  of  the  Ilurons,  were  called  by  the  latter  Atti- 
wandaronk,  but  Neutral  by  the  French,  from  their  standing 
aloof  in  the  great  war  waged  by  the  Iroquois  against  the 
Hurons  and  Algonquins. 

No  sooner  had  the  French  founded  Quebec  than  the  Fran- 
ciscan missionaries  attempted  the  conversion  of  the  Hurons. 

*  Chnmplnin  (Ed.  1613,  p.  238),  calls  the  Hurons  les  bons  Troquois,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  other  Yroquois  enemies. 


I'M 


;!,!' 


lliiir 


.1      r  I 


ir""ii 


II 


;: I 


ll!i;|ll!!.i 


''V 


I  till  III  I! 
liiill 


■  ^  m  |i! 


I'lii 
iiiii 


Lillilil! 


i 


11 


■<> ,  i 


UK, 


ii^lilllii^ii 

^^iiililllr 


111 


i:ill| 


ill' 
IIP' 


F'  li!  Ill'    • 

1.0  III    >  .11  , .'  III! 


iX  LIFE  OF  FATHER  MARQTTETTB 

Father  Joseph  Le  Cnron,  the  founder  of  that  mission,  win 
tered  among  them  in  1615,  and  in  subsequent  years  other 
recollects  did  their  best  to  prepare  them  for  the  faith.  The 
Jesuits  were  at  last  called  in  by  the  recollects  to  aid  them, 
and  laboring  together  in  harmony,  they  looked  forward  with 
sanguine  hope  to  the  speedy  conversion  of  the  Hurons  and 
Neuters,  for  they,  too,  were  visited,  when  all  their  prospects 
were  blasted  by  the  English  conquest  of  Canada,  in  1629. 
On  its  restoration  the  French  court  offered  the  Canada  mis- 
sions to  the  Civpucliis,  but,  on  their  recommendation,  commit- 
ted it  to  the  Jesuits  alone.  Brebeuf,  for  the  second  time, 
reached  Upper  Canada,  and  labored  zealously  on  till  the  Hu- 
ron nation  was  annihilated  by  the  Iroquois.  Twenty-one  mis- 
sionaries at  different  times  came  to  share  his  toils,  and  of 
these  eight  like  himself  perished  by  hostile  hands,  martyrs  to 
their  faith  and  zeal,  a  nobler  body  of  heroes  than  any  other 
part  of  our  country  can  boast.  On  the  deaths  of  Brebeuf  and 
Gamier,  in  1650,  the  ruin  of  the  Hurons  and  Petuns  was  con- 
summated.  The  survivors  fled  and  blended  into  one  tribe, 
Boon  divided  into  two  great  parties,  one  composed  entirely  of 
Christians,  repairing  to  Quebec  to  settle  on  Orleans  island, 
whose  descendants  are  still  lingering  at  Lorette ;  the  other, 
part  Christians,  part  pagans,  fled  at  last  to  Mackinaw,  but 
pursued  constantly  by  the  Iroquois,  they  next  settled  on  some 
islands  at  the  mouth  of  Green  Bay,  where  they  seem  to  have 
been  in  Menard's  time;  later  still,  after  roaming  to  the  lodges 
of  the  Sioux  on  the  Mississippi,  they  came  to  pitch  their 
cabins  by  the  mission  cross  planted  by  Allouez,  at  Chegoime- 
gon,*  and  here  Marquette  had  found  them.  Such  is  the  tale 
of  their  wanderings,  till  the  period  of  our  narrative.f 

•  Rel.  167l-'72. 

f  Their  aubseqnent  wnnderinga  are  to  Detroit,  Sandusty,  and  at  last  to  Indian 
territory,  where  the  descendnnts  of  Marquette's  flock  still  exist,  the  smallest  but 
wealthiest  band  of  deported  Indians. 


LIFE  OF  FATIIKR   MARQUETTK. 


hi 


nission,  "win 
years  other 
I  fjiith.    The 
to  aid  them, 
rorward  with 
Hurons  and 
sir  prospects 
ida,  in  1620. 
Canada  mis- 
sion, commit- 
second  time, 
1  till  the  IIii- 
enty-one  mis- 
toils,  and  of 
Is,  martyrs  to 
jan  any  other 
Brebenf  and 
;nns  was  con- 
;o  one  tribe, 
id  entirely  of 
eans  island, 
B ;  the  other, 
ackinaw,  but 
tied  on  some 
seem  to  have 
to  the  lodges 
pitch  their 
vt  Chegoime- 
jh  is  the  tale 
ve.f 

At  last  to  Indian 
the  smallest  but 


Mackinaw,  where  they  now  rested,  was  indeed  a  bloak 
spot  to  begin  a  new  home ;  it  was  a  point  of  land  almost 
encompassed  by  wind-tossed  lakes,  icy  as  Siberian  waters. 
The  cold  was  intense,  and  cultivation  difficult;  but  tho  waters 
teemed  with  fish,  and  the  very  danger  and  hardehijJH  of  their 
capture  gave  it  new  zest.    Besides  this,  it  was  a  centnil  point 

\  for  trade,  and  so  additionally  recommended  to  the  Huron, 

:  who  still,  as  of  old,  sought  to  advance  his  worldly  jjvospects 
by  commerce. 

Stationed  in  this  new  spot,  Father  Marquette's  first  care  was 
to  raise  a  chapel.  Rude  and  unshapely  was  the  first  sylvan 
shrine  raised  by  catholicity  at  Mackinaw;  its  sides  of  logs,  its 
roof  of  bark  had  nothing  to  impress  the  senses,  nothing  to  win 
by  a  dazzling  exterior  the  wayward  child  of  the  forest;  all 
was  as  simple  as  the  faith  he  taught.  Such  was  the  origin 
of  the  mission  of  St.  Ignatius,  or  Michilimackinac,  already  in 
a  manner  begun  the  previous  year  by  missionary  labora  on 
the  island  of  that  name.*  The  Hurons  soon  built  near  the 
chapel  a  palisade  fort,  less  stout  and  skilful  indeed  than  the 
fortresses  found  in  among  their  kindred  Iroquois  by  Cartier 
and  Champlain,  but  in  their  declining  state  sufficient  for  their 
defence. 

No  details  of  Marquette's  labors  during  the  firet  year  have 
reached  us;  he  wrote  no  letters  to  recount  his  wanderings,* 
but  of  the  second  year  we  are  better  informed.    An  unpub- 

,  lished  manuscript  gives  us  the  following  letter  addressed  to 

^^  Father  Dablon :  — 

I "  Rev.  Father  :  — 

%     "The  Hurons,  called  Tionnontateronnons  or  Petun  nation, 

^who  compose  the  mission  of  St.  Ignatius  at  Michiliinakinong 

Ibegan  last  year  near  the  chapel  a  fort  enclosing  all  their 

»  Rel.  U10-'1\,  p.  144. 

-  V  W-" 


1«» 
Xll 


LIFE   OF   FATITKR   MARQUKTTK. 


„•■'.>. 


hinii 


liii,  I'li'iiiiiii 


fi;iiiiiiiiiiiiiil 


cabins.  Tliey  have  come  re^nlarly  to  prnyers,  and  liavo  lis- 
tened more  readily  to  tlio  inatnictions  I  gave  them,  consent- 
ing to  what  I  required  to  prevent  their  disorders  and  ahom- 
inable  customs.  We  must  liave  ]>atience  with  untutored 
minds,  who  know  only  the  devil,  who  like  their  ancestors  have 
been  his  slaves,  and  who  often  relapse  into  the  sins  in  which 
they  were  nurtured.  God  alone  can  fix  these  fickle  minds, 
and  place  and  keep  them  in  his  grace,  and  touch  their  hearts 
while  we  stammer  at  their  ears. 

"The  Tionnontateronnons  number  this  year  three  hundred 
and  eighty  souls,  and  besides  'sixty  Outaonasinogaux  have 
joined  them.  Some  of  these  came  from  the  mission  of  St. 
Francis  Xavier,  where  Father  Andre  wintered  with  them 
last  year;  they  are  quite  changed  from  what  I  saw  them  at 
Lapointe ;  the  zeal  and  patience  of  that  missionary  have 
gained  to  the  faith  those  hearts  which  seemed  to  us  most 
averse  to  it.  They  now  wish  to  be  Christians ;  they  bring 
their  children  to  the  chapel  to  be  baptized,  and  come  regu- 
larly to  prayers. 

"  Having  been  obliged  to  go  to  St.  Marie  du  Sault  with 
Father  AUouez  last  summer,  the  Ilurons  came  to  the  chapel 
during  my  absence  as  regularly  as  if  I  had  been  there,  the 
girls  singing  what  prayers  they  knew.  They  counted  the  days 
of  my  absence,  and  constantly  asked  when  I  was  to  be  back  ; 
I  was  absent  only  fourteen  days,  and  on  my  arrival  all  assem- 
bled at  chapel,  some  coming  even  from  their  fields,  which 
are  at  a  very  considerable  distance. 

"  I  went  readily  to  their  pumpkin-feast,  where  I  instructed 
them,  and  invited  them  to  thank  God,  who  gave  them  food 
in  plenty,  while  other  tribes  that  had  not  yet  embraced 
Christianity,  were  actually  struggling  with  famine.  I  ridi- 
culed dreams,  and  urged  those  wlio  had  beeji  baptized  to  ac- 


it' 


LITK  OF   FATIIiai   MAnQUKTTK. 


If 
Mil 


ind  Imvo  li8- 
om,  conscnt- 
B  and  al)om- 
th  untutored 
icestora  Imvc 
jins  in  which 
ficltlo  minds, 
li  their  hearts 

hree  hundred 
inagaux  liave 
mission  of  St. 
id  with  them 
I  saw  thcra  at 
Bsionary  liave 
led  to  us  most 
3 ;  tliey  bring 
id  come  regu- 

du  Sault  with 
to  the  chapel 
een  there,  the 
mted  the  days 
[\s  to  be  back ; 
ival  all  assem- 
fields,  which 

re  I  instructed 
;ave  them  food 
yet  embraced 
mine.  I  ridi- 
bnptized  to  ac- 


# 

-/#. 


knowledge  Him,  whose  adopted  chihlrcn  they  were.  Tlioso 
who  gave  the  feast,  though  still  idolaters,  ep<.ko  in  high  terms 
of  Christianity,  and  openly  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  boforo 
all  present.  Some  young  men,  whom  they  had  tried  by  ridi- 
cule to  prevent  from  doing  it,  persevered,  and  make  the  sign 
of  the  cross  in  the  greatest  assemblies,  even  when  I  am  not 
present. 

"An  Indian  of  distinction  among  the  Ilurons,  having  in- 
vited me  to  a  feast  where  the  chiefs  were,  called  them  sev- 
erally by  name  and  told  them  that  lie  wished  to  declare  his 
thoughts,  that  all  might  know  it,  namely,  that  ho  was  a 
Christian  ;  that  he  renounced  the  god  of  dreams  and  all  their 
lewd  dances;  that  the  black-gown  was  master  of  his  cabin; 
and  that  for  nothing  that  might  happen  would  he  forsake  his 
resolution.  Delighted  to  hear  this,  I  spoke  more  strongly 
than  I  had  ever  yet  done,  telling  them  that  my  only  design 
was  to  put  them  in  the  way  of  heaven  ;  that  for  this  alone  I 
remained  among  them;  that  this  obliged  me  to  assist  them 
at  the  peril  of  my  life.  As  soon  as  anything  is  said  in  an  as- 
sembly, it  is  immediately  divulged  through  all  the  cabins, 
as  I  saw  in  this  case  by  the  assiduity  of  some  in  coming 
to  prayers,  and  by  the  malicious  efforts  of  others  to  neutralize 
my  instructions. 

"  Severe  as  the  winter  is,  it  does  not  prevent  the  Indians 
from  coming  to  the  chapel.  Some  come  twice  a  day,  be  the 
wind  or  cold  what  it  may.  Last  fall  I  began  to  instruct  some 
to  make  general  confessions  of  their  whole  life,  and  to  prepare 
others  who  had  never  confessed  since  their  baptism.  I  would 
noL  have  supposed  that  Indians  could  have  given  so  exact  an 
account  of  all  that  had  happened  in  the  course  of  their  life ; 
but  it  was  seriously  done,  as  some  took  two  weeks  to  examine 
themselves.    Since  then,  I  have  perceived  a  marked  change, 


■¥"Pi 


liliiliil 

;:1 II. 


nKl 


,l  .„, 


I, nil  I 


i|llllil|;     .:! 


iiiPiiiiiiii!ifii«ii 

^^'ifciiiililliiiiiiil 


''iij, 

iiii 
jti 


!''h 


|iH 


!,lil;! 


i'i|iiii|i 


ip. 


mill 


iiii'ililii 
I 


nil 


I 


ti  r   '. 


liii,,, 

'ii"'lili( 


Ixiv 


LIFE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


SO  that  tliey  will  not  go  even  to  ovdinary  feasts  without  ask- 
ing my  permission. 

"  I  have  this  year  baptized  twenty-eight  children,  one  of 
which  had  be^n  brought  from  Ste.  Marie  du  Sault,  without 
liaving  received  that  sacrament  as  the  Rev.  F.  Henry  Nouvel 
informed  me,  to  put  me  on  my  guard.  "Without  my  knowing 
it,  the  child  fell  sick,  but  God  permitted  that  while  instruct- 
ing in  my  cabin  two  important  and  sensible  Indians,  one 
asked  me,  whether  such  a  sick  child  was  baptized.  I  went 
at  once,  baptized  it,  and  it  died  the  next  niglit.  Some  of  the 
other  children  too  are  dead,  and  now  in  heaven.  These  are 
the  consolations  which  God  sends  us,  which  make  us  esteem 
our  life  more  happy  as  it  is  more  wretched. 

"  This,  rev.  father,  is  all  I  give  about  this  mission,  where 
minds  are  now  more  mild,  tractable,  and  better  disposed  to 
receive  instructions,  than  in  any  other  part.  I  am  ready, 
however,  to  leave  it  in  the  hands  of  another  missionary  to  go 
on  your  order  to  seek  new  nations  toward  the  south  sea  who 
are  still  unknown  to  us,  and  to  teach  them  of  our  great  God 
whom  they  have  hitherto  unknown."* 

Such  was  the  laborious  post  to  which  this  talented,  yet 
humble  missionary  condemned  himself,  dally  subjected  to  the 
caprices  of  some,  the  insults  and  petty  persecution  of  others, 
looking  only  to  another  world  for  the  reward  of  labors  which, 
crowned  with  the  most  complete  success,  would  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  seem  unimportant ;  but  "  motives  are  the  test  of 
merit,"  and  convinced  by  tlie  studies  of  riper  yeare,  no  less 
than  by  the  early  teachings  of  a  mother,  that  the  baptismal 
promises  were  a  reality,  he  sought  to  open  by  that  sacrament 
the  doors  of  bliss  to  the  dying  infant,  or  more  aged  but  re- 

3fS.  Eel.  16'72-'78. 


M 


'h 


LIFE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


Ixv 


without  ask- 

Idren,  one  of 
Sault,  without 
lenry  Nouvel 
t  my  knowing 
svhile  instruct- 
J  Indians,  one 
tized.  I  went 
Some  of  the 
n.  These  are 
lake  us  esteem 

mission,  where 
;er  disposed  to 
I  am  ready, 
issionary  to  go 
south  sea  who 
our  great  God 


talented,  yet 
ibjected  to  the 
ition  of  others, 

labors  which. 

Id  in  the  eyes 

are  the  test  of 

'  years,  no  less 

the  baptismal 
hat  sacrament 

aged  but  re- 


penting sinner.  To  him  the  salvation  of  a  single  soul  was 
more  grand  and  noble  than  the  conquest  of  an  empire,  and 
thns  borne  up,  he  labored  on. 

This  letter  of  which  the  date  is  not  given,  nor  the  closing 
words,  must  have  been  written  in  the  summer  of  1672,  and 
transmitted  to  Quebec  by  the  Ottawa  flotilla.  The  same  con- 
veyance, doubtless,  brouglit  him  back  the  assurance  that  his 
prayers  liad  been  heard,  that  the  government  had  at  last  re- 
solved to  net  in  the  matter,  and  that  he  was  the  missionary 
selected  to  accompany  the  expedition.  His  heart  exulted  at 
tlie  prospect,  tliough  he  foresaw  the  danger  to  which  he  was 
exposed,  a  health  already  shaken  by  his  toils  and  baidships, 
a  difficult  and  unknown  way,  the  only  nation  known  —  the 
fierce  Dahcotah — now  hostile  to  the  French  and  their  allies, 
with  many  another  tribe  noted  in  Indian  story  for  deeds  of 
blood,  closed  up  their  path.  But  this  did  not  alarm  him. 
The  hope  of  a  gloi'ous  martyrdom  while  opening  the  way  to 
future  heralds  of  the  cross,  buoyed  him  up,  though  in  his  hu- 
mility he  never  spoke  of  martyrdom.  To  him  it  was  but  "a 
death  to  cease  to  offend  God." 

This  now  engrossed  his  thoughts,  and  he  waited  with  anxi- 
ety the  coming  of  Jolliet,  named  to  undertake  the  expedition. 
At  last  he  arrived,  and  by  a  happy  coincidence  on  the  feast 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  blessed  "Virgin,  "  whom," 
says  the  pious  missionary,  "  I  had  always  invoked  since  my 
coming  to  the  Ottawa  country,  in  order  to  obtain  of  God  the 
favor  of  being  able   to  visit  the  nations  on  the  Missisipi 


L  river." 


The  winter  was  spent  in  the  necessary  arrangements,  regu- 
llating  the  affaire  of  his  mission,  which  he  left,  it  would  seem, 
|in  the  hands  of  Father  Pierson,  and  in  drawing  up  the  maps 
.and  statements  which  Indian  narrators  could  enable  them  to 


Ilillllllll 

I  Ill, 


i::-!::    ,    ,..; 


i!:!i:i 


„'    i 


imm 


ii!:'M 


i"ili!li 


lllli! 


'■      'iliilH 


ini||J||iil|||i| 


till 


'ill! 


III!! 


"ii 


'11 


]xvi 


LIFE   OF   FATIIEU   MARQUETTE. 


form.  At  last,  on  the  17ih  of  May,  1673,  they  embarked 
in  two  canoes  at  Mackinaw,  and  proceeded  to  Green  Bay, 
whence  ascending  the  Fox  river  they  at  last  reached  the 
Wisconsin  by  its  portage,  and  glided  down  to  the  Mississippi. 
We  need  not  here  detail  this  remarkable  voyage,  the  first 
down  the  great  river,  as  his  whole  narrative  is  contained  in 
the  volume.  Sufficient  to  say,  that  with  JoUiet  he  descended 
to  the  Arkansas,  and  having  thns  ascertained  the  situation  of 
the  mouth,  and  the  perfect  navigability  of  the  river,  reas- 
cended  it  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Ilinois,  into  which  they 
turned,  and  by  a  portage  reached  Lake  Michigan,  and  in  Sep- 
tember arrived  without  accident  at  the  mission  in  Green  Bay. 
In  this  voyage  he  twice  met  the  Peoria  tribe  of  the  Ilinois, 
and  baptized  one  dying  child  at  the  water's  edge,  as  he  left 
them  finally.  He  also  passed  the  Kaskaskia  tribe  of  the 
same  nation  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Ilinois,  and  having 
been  already  named  an  Ilinois  missionarj',  he  yielded  to  their 
earnest  entreaties,  and  promised  to  return  and  begin  a  niis- 
Bion  among  them.*  He  had  now  reached  Green  Bay,  but 
his  health  had  given  way;  he  was  prostrated  by  disease,  and 
was  not  completely  restored  before  the  close  of  the  following 
summer.  By  the  Ottawa  flotilla  of  that  year  he  transmitted 
to  his  superior  copies  of  his  journal  down  the  Mississippi,  and 
doubtless  the  map  which  we  now  publish.  The  return  of  the 
fleet  of  canoes  brought  him  the  necessary  orders  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Ilinois  mission  ;  and  as  his  liealth  was  now 
restored,  he  set  out  on  the  25th  of  October,  1674,  for  Kaskas- 
kia.  The  line  of  travel  at  that  time  was  to  coast  .along  to  the 
mouth  of  Fox  river,  then  turn  up  as  far  as  the  little  bay 
winch  nearly  intersects  the  peninsula,  where  a  portage  was 
made  to  the  lake.    This  was  the  route  now  taken  by  Mar- 

*  See  his  nnrrotive  in  ihia  volume. 


.)i|i| 


jiii'i 


^ 


LIFE   OF   FATFIKR   MARQUETTE. 


XVll 


ley  emliaiked 
o  Green  Bay, 
t  reached    the 
he  Mississippi, 
yage,  the  first 
is  contained  in 
;  he  descended 
he  sitnation  of 
he  river,  reas- 
nto  which  they 
an,  and  in  Sep- 
in  Green  Bay. 
3  of  the  Ilinois, 
edge,  as  lie  left 
ia  tribe  of  the 
ois,  and  having 
yielded  to  their 
id  begin  a  niis- 
5reen  Bay,  but 
by  disease,  and 
of  the  following 
he  transmitted 
Mississippi,  and 
he  return  of  the 
rders  for  the  es- 
hcalth  was  now 
)74,  for  Kaskas- 
last  along  to  the 
the  little  bay 
a  portage  was 
taken  by  Mar- 


quette with  two  men  to  aid  him,  accompanied  by  a  number 
of  Pottawotamies  and  Illinois.  Reaching  the  lake,  the  canoes 
coasted  along  slowly,  the  missionary  often  proceeding  on  foot 
along  the  beautiful  beach,  embarking  only  at  the  rivers.  lie 
represents  the  navigation  of  the  lake  as  easy ;  "  there  being," 
says  lie,  "  no  portiige  to  make,  and  the  Ian  ''ng  easy,  provided 
you  do  not  persist  in  sailing  when  the  w.  ds  and  waves  are 
hiorji,"  The  soil  except  in  the  prairies  was  poor,  but  the 
chase  was  abundant,  and  tliey  were  thus  well  supplied. 

In  spite  of  all  his  courage,  he  was  at  last  unable  to  proceed; 
hj  tlie  23d  of  November  his  malady  had  returned,  and  though 
he  continued  to  advance,  exposed  to  the  cold  and  snows,  when 
he  reached  Ciiicago  river  on  the  4th  of  December,  he  found 
the  river  closed,  and  himself  too  much  reduced  to  be  able  to 
attempt  that  winter  march  by  land.  There  was  no  alterna- 
tive but  to  winter  there  alone,  and  accordingly  instructing  hia 
Indian  companions  as  far  as  time  allowed,  they  went  th^sir 
way,  and  he  remained  with  his  two  men  at  the  po'^age. 
"Within  fifty  miles  of  them  were  two  other  Frenchmen,  trap- 
pers and  traders,  one  of  whom  was  a  surgeon  at  least  in  name, 
and  still  nearer  an  Illinois  village.  The  former  had  prepared 
a  cabin  for  the  missionary',  and  one  came  now  to  visit  him, 
being  informed  of  his  ill  health  ;  the  Indians  who  had  also 
heard  it,  wished  to  send  a  party  to  carry  him  and  all  his  bag- 
gage, fearing  that  he  might  sufi\;r  from  want.  The  good  mis- 
sionary, charmed  at  their  solicitude,  sent  to  reassure  them  on 
^hat  head,  although  he  was  tv.rced  to  tell  them  that  if  his  mal- 
idy  continued,  he  would  find  it  difficult  to  visit  them  even  in 
the  spring. 

*  Alarmed  at  this,  the  sachema  of  the  tribe  assembled  and 
deputed  tliree  to  visit  the  blackgown,  bearing  three  sacks  of 
torn,  dried   meat  and   pumpl<ins,  and  twelve  beaver-skins; 


!■  •     ! 


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mi 


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Ixviii 


LIFE  OF  FATHKB   MARQUETTE. 


first,  to  rtialie  him  a  mat;  second,  to  ask  Lim  for  powder; 
third,  to  prevent  his  being  liungry ;  fourth,  to  get  some  mer- 
chandise. "I  answered  them,"  says  Marquette  in  his  last 
letter,  "  firet,  that  I  came  to  instruct  them  by  speaking  of  the 
prayer;  second,  that  I  would  not  give  them  powder,  as  we 
endeavor  to  make  peace  everywhere,  and  because  I  did  not 
wish  them  to  begin  a  war  against  the  Mianiis;  third,  that  we 
did  not  fear  famine;  fourth,  that  I  would  encourage  the 
French  to  bring  them  merchandise,  and  that  they  must  make 
reparation  to  the  traders  there  for  the  beads  taken  from  them, 
while  the  surgeon  was  with  me."  The  missionary  then  gave 
them  some  axes,  knives,  and  trinkets,  in  return  for  their  pres- 
ents, and  as  a  mark  of  his  gratitude  for  their  coming  twenty 
leagues  to  visit  him.  Before  he  dismissed  them,  he  promised 
to  make  every  effort  to  I'each  the  village,  were  it  l)ut  for  a  few 
days.  "  On  this,"  says  he,  "  they  bid  me  tsike  heart  an  '  stay 
and  die  in  their  country,  as  I  had  promised  to  remain  a  long 
time,"  and  they  returned  to  their  winter-camps. 

Despairing  now  of  being  able  to  reach  his  destined  goal 
without  the  interposition  of  Heaven,  the  missionary  turned  to 
the  patroness  of  his  mission,  the  blessed  Virgin  Lnmaculate, 
and  with  his  two  companions  began  a  novena  in  her  honor, 
Nor  was  his  trust  belied  ;  God  heard  his  prayer,  his  illness 
ceased,  and  though  still  weak,  he  gradually  gained  strengtli, 
and  when  the  opening  of  the  river  and  the  consequent  iimii- 
dation  compelled  them  to  remove,  he  again  resumed  his  long 
interrupted  voyage  to  Kaskaskia,  then  on  the  upper  waters 
of  the  Illinois  river. 

During  this  painful  wintering,  which  for  all  his  expres- 
sions of  comfort,  was  one  of  great  hardship  and  suffering,  liis 
hours  were  chiefly  S|»ent  in  ])r»yor.  Convinced  that  the  term 
of  his  existence  was  drawing  rai)idly  to  a  flns»>,  be  consecrated 


pr 


LIFE   OF  FATHER   MARQUETTE. 


Ixix 


n  for  powder; 
get  some  mer- 
stte  in  hi8  last 
spealcing  of  the 
powder,  as  we 
cause  I  did  not 
;  third,  that  we 
encourage   the 
they  must  make 
ike)i  fiom  them, 
cmary  then  gave 
•n  for  their  pres- 
i-  coming  twenty 
em,  he  proniised 
e  it  but  fi»r  a  few 
ce  heart  at) '  stay 
to  remain  a  lung 

ps. 

is  destined   goal 

■ionary  turned  to 

gin  Immacuhvte, 

na  in  her  honor. 

nsiyer,  his  iUness 

gained  strengtli, 

consequent  inuii- 

i-esumed  his  long 

the  upper  waters 

or  all  his  expres- 
and  Huffering,  liis 
ced  that  the  term 
jse,  he  consecrated 


this  period  of  quiet  to  the  exercises  of  a  spiritual  retreat,  in 
which  his  soul  overflowed  with  heavenly  consolations,  as 
rising  above  its  frail  and  now  tottering  tenement,  it  soared 
toward  that  glorious  home  it  was  so  soon  to  enter. 

The  journal  of  his  last  voyage*  comes  down  to  the  sixth  of 
April,  when  the  weather  arrested  his  progress;  two  days 
after  he  reached  Kaskaskia,  where  he  was  received  as  an 
angel  from  heaven.  It  was  now  Monday  in  holy  week,  and 
he  instantly  began  his  preliminary  instructions,  assembling 
for  that  purpose  the  chiefs  and  old  men,  and  going  from 

.cabin  to  cabin  where  new  crowds  constantly  gathered.  When 
he  had  thus  prepared  all  to  understand  his  meaning  and  ob- 
ject, he  convoked  a  general  assembly  in  the  open  prairie  on 
Maunday-Thursday,  and  raising  a  rustic  altar,  adorned  it 
with  pictures  of  the  blessed  Yirgin,  under  whose  invocation 
he  had  placed  his  new  mission  ;  he  turned  to  the  assembled 
chiefs  and  warriors,  and  the  whole  tribe  seated  or  standing 
around,  and  by  ten  presents  declared  the  object  of  his 
coming,  and  the  nature  of  the  faith  he  bore,  explaining  the 
principal  mysteries  of  religion,  and  especially  the  mystery  of 
redemption,  the  incarnation  and  death  of  the  Son  of  God, 
which  the  church  then  commemorated.  He  then  celebrated 
mass  for  the  first  time  in  his  new  mission,  and  during  the  fol- 
lowing days  renewed  his  separate  instructions.  After  cele- 
brating the  great  festival  of  Easter,  his  malady  began  to  ap- 
pear once  more,  and  he  felt  that  the  period  granted  to  his 

1  earnest  prayei-s  was  ended.  The  sole  object  to  which  he  had 
for  years  directed  all  the  aspirations  of  his  heart  was  now  at- 

Jtained.  He  had  actually  begun  his  Illinois  mission  ;  he  had 
given  them  the  first  rudiments  of  instruction  in  public  and  in 
private ;  he  had  twice  in  their  midst  offered  up  the  adorable 

*  Printed  in  the  appendix  of  this  volume. 


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Ixx 


LIFE   OF   FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


sacrifice ;  there  was  no  more  to  be  asked  on  earth ;  he  waa 
content  to  die. 

In  hopes  of  reaching  his  former  mission  of  Mackinaw  to 
die  with  his  religious  brethren  around  him,  fortified  by  the 
last  rites  of  the  church,  he  set  out  escorted  to  the  lake  by  the 
Kaskaskias,  to  whom  he  promised  that  he,  or  some  other  mis- 
sionary should  soon  resume  his  labors. 

He  seems  to  have  taken  the  way  by  the  St.  Joseph's  river, 
and  reached  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  along  which 
he  had  not  yet  sailed.  His  strength  now  gradually  failed, 
and  he  was  at  last  so  weak  that  he  had  to  be  lifted  in  and 
out  of  his  canoe  when  they  landed  each  night.  Calmly  and 
cheerfully  he  saw  tlie  approach  of  death,  for  which  he  pre- 
pared by  assiduous  prayer;  his  ofiice  he  regularly  recited  to 
the  last  day  of  his  life  ;  a  meditation  on  death,  which  he  had 
long  since  prepared  for  this  hour,  lie  now  made  the  subject 
of  his  thoughts;  and  as  his  kind  but  simple  companions 
seemed  overwhelmed  at  the  prospect  of  their  approaching 
loss,  he  blessed  some  water  with  the  usual  ceremonies,  gave 
his  companions  directions  how  to  act  in  his  last  moments,  how 
to  arrange  his  body  when  dead,  and  to  commit  it  to  the  earth, 
with  the  ceremonies  he  prescribed,  lie  now  seemed  but  to 
seek  a  grave ;  at  last  perceiving  the  mouth  of  a  river  which 
still  bears  his  name,  he  pointed  to  an  eminence  as  the  place 
of  his  burial. 

His  companions,  Peter  Porteret  and  James ,  still  hoped 

to  reach  Mackinaw,  but  the  wind  drove  them  back,  and  they 
entered  the  river  by  the  channel,  where  it  emptied  then,  for 
it  has  since  changed.  They  erected  a  little  bark  cabin,  and 
stretched  the  dying  missionary  beneath  it,  as  conifortably  as 
their  want  permitted  them.  Still  a  priest,  rather  than  a  man, 
he  thought  of  his  ministry,  and,  for  the  last  time,  heard  tlio 


LIFE   OF  FATIIKR   MARQUKTTK. 


Ixxl 


sarth ;  be  was 

Mackinaw  to 
rttified  by  the 
he  lake  by  the 
jme  other  mis- 

Josepli's  river, 
tn,  along  which 
adually  failed, 
)e  lifted  in  and 
t.    Calmly  and 
■  which  he  pre- 
ilarly  recited  to 
I,  which  he  had 
lade  the  subject 
pie  companions 
eir  approaching 
eremonies,  gave 
t  moments,  how 
t  it  to  the  earth, 
iv  seemed  but  to 
of  a  river  which 
nee  as  the  place 


ti 


— ,  still  hoped 
back,  and  they 
mptied  then,  for 
bark  cabin,  and 
IS  comfortably  as 
ither  than  a  man, 
t  time,  heard  the 


confessions  of  his  companions,  and  encouraged  tlu>ni  to  rely 
with  confidence  on  the  protecin^n  of  God,  then  sent  them  to 
take  the  repose  they  so  much  needed.      When  he  felt  his 
agony  approaching  he  called  them,  and  taking  his  crucifix 
from  around  his  neck,  he  placed  it  in  their  hands,  and  pi'o- 
nouncing  in  a  firm  voice  his  profession  of  faith,  thanked  the 
Almighty  for  the  favor  of  permitting  him  to  die  a  Jesuit,  a 
missionary  and  alone.    Then  he  relapsed  into  silence,  inter- 
rupted only  by  his  pious  aspirations,  till  at  last,  with  the 
names  of  Jesus  and  Mary  on  his  lips,  with  his  eyes  raised  as 
if  in  ecstacy  above  his  crucifix,  with  his  face  all  radiant  with 
joy,  he  passed  from  the  scene  of  his  labors  to  the  God  who 
was  to  be  his  reward.    Obedient  to  his  directions  his  com- 
panions, when  the  first  outbursts  of  grief  were  over,  laid  out 
the  body  for  burial,  and  to  the  sound  of  his  little  chapel-bell, 
bore  it  slowly  to  the  point  which  he  had  pointed  out.     Here 
they  connnitted  his  body  to  the  earth,  and  raising  a  cross 
above  it,  returned  to  their  now  desolate  cabin. 

Such  was  the  edifying  and  holy  death  of  the  illustrious  ex- 
plorer of  the  Mississippi,  on  Saturday,  the  18th  of  May,  1675. 
He  was  of  a  cheerful,  joyous  disposition,  playful  even  in  his 
manner,  and  universally  beloved.  His  letters  show  him  to 
us  a  man  of  education,  close  observation,  sound  sense,  strict 
integrity,  a  freedom  from  exaggeration,  and  yet  a  vein  of 
humor  which  here  and  there  breaks  out,  in  spite  of  all  liis 
self-command. 

But  all  these  qualities  are  little  compared  to  his  zeal  as  a 
missionary,  to  his  sanctity  as  a  man.  His  holiness  drew  on 
him  in  life  the  veneration  of  all  around  him,  and  the  lapse  of 
years  has  not  even  now  destroyed  it  in  the  descendants  of 
those  who  knew  him.*     In  one  of  his  sanctity,  we  naturally 

*  It  leil  to  the  romantic  tales  which  have  even  found  their  way  into  sober 
history.  The  missionaries  in  the  west  now  hear  the  same  account  as  that  which 
Charlevoix  believed  and  inserted. 


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XXll 


LIFE   OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


find  an  all-absorbing  devotion  to  the  mother  of  the  Savior, 
with  its  constant  attendants,  an  angelical  love  of  purity,  and 
a  close  union  of  the  heart  with  God.  It  is,  indeed,  cliarac- 
teristic  of  him.  The  privilege  which  the  church  honors  under 
the  title  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  was  the  constant  ob- 
ject of  his  thoughts;  from  his  earliest  youth,  he  daily  recited 
the  little  ofiice  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  and  fasted 
every  Saturday  in  her  honor.  As  a  missionary,  a  variety  of 
devotions  directed  to  the  same  end  still  show  his  devotions 
and  to  her  he  turned  in  all  his  trials.  When  he  discovered 
the  great  river,  when  he  founded  his  new  mission,  lie  gave  it 
the  name  of  the  Conception,  and  no  letter,  it  is  said,  ever 
came  from  his  hand  that  did  not  contain  the  words,  "  Blessed 
Virgin  Immaculate,"  and  the  smile  that  lighted  up  bis  dying 
face,  induced  his  poor  companions  to  believe  that  she  had 
appeared  before  the  eyes  of  her  devoted  client. 

Like  St.  Francis  Xavier,  whom  he  especially  chose  as  the 
model  of  his  missionary  career,  he  labored  nine  years  for  the 
moral  and  social  improvement  of  nations  sunk  in  paganism 
and  vice,  and  as  be  was  alternately  with  tribes  of  varied 
tongues,  found  it  was  necessary  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
many  American  languages ;  six  he  certainly  spoke  with  ease; 
many  more  he  is  known  to  have  understood  less  perfectly. 
His  death,  however,  was  as  he  had  always  desired,  more  like 
that  of  the  apostle  of  the  Indies ;  there  is,  indeed,  a  striking 
resemblance  between  their  last  moments,  and  the  wretched 
cabin,  the  desert  shore,  the  few  destitute  companions,  the 
lonely  grave,  all  harmonize  in  Michigan  and  Sancian. 

He  was  buried  as  he  had  directed  on  a  rising  ground  near 
the  little  river,  and  a  cross  raised  above  his  grave  showed 
to  all  the  place  of  his  rest.  The  Indians  soon  knew  it,  and 
two  years  after  his  death,  and  almost  on  the  very  anniversary 


LIFE  OF    FATHER  MARQUETTK. 


1«t» 
XXUl 


)f  tho  Savior, 
of  purity,  and 
ideed,  cliarac- 
i  honors  under 
e  constant  ob- 
e  daily  recited 
m,  and  fasted 
i-y,  a  variety  of 
r  his  devotions 
he  discovered 
sion,  he  gave  it 
it  is  said,  ever 
rords,  "  Blessed 
3d  np  his  dying 
e  that  she  had 

t. 

lly  chose  as  the 
le  years  for  the 
nk  in  paganism 
ribes  of  varied 
a  knowledge  of 
ioke  with  ease; 
I  less  perfectly, 
isired,  more  like 
ideed,  a  striking 
id  the  wretched 
companions,  the 
Sancian. 
ing  ground  near 
8  grave  showed 
on  knew  it,  and 
ery  anniversary 


his  own  flock,  the  Kiskakons,  returning  from  their  hunt 
stopped  there,  and  with  Indian  ideas,  resolved  to  disinter 
their  father,  and  bear  his  revered  bones  to  their  mission.  At 
once  they  did  so;  the  bones  were  placed  in  a  neat  box  of 
bark,  and  the  flotilla  now  become  a  funeral  convoy,  pro- 
ceeded on  its  way;  the  missionary  thus  accomplishing  in 
death  the  voyage  which  life  had  not  enabled  him  to  terminate. 
A  paity  of  Iroquois  joined  them,  and  as  they  advanced  to 
Mackinaw,  other  canoes  shot  out  to  meet  them  with  the  two 
missionaries  of  the  place,  and  there  upon  the  waters  rose  the 
solemn  De  Profundis,  continued  till  the  body  reached  the  land. 
It  was  then  borne  to  the  church  with  cross,  and  prayer,  and 
tapers  burning  like  his  zeal,  and  incense  rising  like  his  aspi- 
rations to  heaven ;  in  the  church  a  pall  had  been  arranged  in 
the  usual  form  for  a  cofiin,  and  beneath  it  was  placed  the 
little  box  of  bark,  which  was  next,  after  a  solemn  service, 
deposited  in  a  little  vault  in  the  middle  of  the  church, 
"  where,"  says  our  chronicler,  "  he  reposes  as  the  guardian- 
angel  of  our  Ottawa  missions." 

There  he  still  reposes,  for  I  find  no  trace  of  any  subsequent 
removal ;  vague  tradition,  like  that  of  his  death  as  given  by 
Charlevoix  and  others,  would  indeed  still  place  him  at  the 
mouth  of  his  river ;  but  it  is  certain  that  he  was  transferred 
to  the  church  of  old  Mackinaw,  in  1677.  This  church  was,  as 
I  judge  from  a  manuscript  Relation  (1675),  erected  subsequent 
to  the  departure  of  Marquette  from  Mackinaw,  and  probably 
about  1674.  The  founding  of  the  post  of  Detroit  drew  from 
Mackinaw  the  Christian  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  and  the  place 
became  deserted.  Despairing  of  being  able  to  produce  any 
good  among  the  few  pagan  Indians,  and  almost  as  pagan 
coureurs-de-bois  who  still  lingered  there,  the  missionaries  re- 
solved to  abandon  the  post,  and  set  fire  to  their  church  in  or 


Ixxiv 


LIFR  OF   FATHKll   MAUQUETTE. 


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al)ont  the  year  1700.    Aiioflior  wns  piibeequontl}'  erected,  but 
this  too  litis  long  since  tlisaj^peuied.* 

Tlie  history  of  his  narrative  and  mnp  nro  almost  as  curious 
as  that  of  his  body.  We  have  seen  that  he  transmitted  copies 
to  his  superior,  and  wont  to  his  last  mission.  Fjontenac  had 
promised  to  send  a  copy  to  the  government,  and  in  all  proba- 
bility ho  did.  At  this  moment  the  ])ublication  of  the  Jesuit 
Relations  ceases  ;  tliongh  not  from  choice  on  tlieir  jiart  as  the 
manuscript  of  the  year  lG72-'73  prepared  for  the  press  by 
Father  Dablon,  still  exists  ;  it  could  ni-t  have  been  fiom  any 
difficidty  on  the  part  of  the  printer,  as  the  announcement  of 
the  expedition  to  the  Mississippi  would  have  given  it  circula- 
tion, even  though  the  journal  itself  were  reserved  for  the  next 
year.  To  the  French  government  then  we  must  attribute  the 
non-publication  of  farther  relations,  the  more  so,  as  they  neg- 
lected to  produce  the  mirrative  of  Marquette  in  their  posses- 
sion. The  whole  might  have  fallen  into  perfect  oblivion,  had 
not  the  narrative  come  into  the  hands  of  Thevenot  who  had 
just  published  a  collection  of  travels;  struck  with  the  im- 
portance of  this,  he  issued  a  new  volume  in  1681,  called  Re- 
ceuil  do  Voyages,  in  which  the  journal  of  Father  Marquette 
as  commonly  known,  appeared  with  a  map  of  the  Mississippi. 
The  narrative  is  evidently  taken  from  a  manuscript  like  that 
in  my  hands,  in  the  writing  of  which  I  can  see  the  cause  of 
some  of  the  strange  forms  which  Indian  names  have  assumed. 
The  opening  of  the  narrative  was  curtailed,  and  occasional 
omissions  made  in  the  beginning,  few  at  the  end.  The  map 
is  so  different  from  that  which  still  exists  in  the  hand-writing 

*  In  Lft  Ilontan  there  is  a  plnn  of  Mnckinnw,  with  the  site  of  the  ohurcl>  in 
wliich  Miirqiiotte  wns  buried.  As  to  its  fidelity,  I  can  not  speak;  but  with  that 
of  ndlin  ill  1744,  showiii<:;  the  sitws  of  the  second  church  at  old  Mnekinnw,  oiid 
the  third  one  in  new  Mackinaw,  the  place  of  the  original  one,  and  of  Marquette's 
grave,  may  perhaps  be  determined. 


44: 


I 


LIFE  OF   FATHER   MARQUKTTE. 


Ixxv 


)'  erected,  but 

oBt  nn  curious 
niitted  ciipics 
'ronti'iuic  lincl 
I  ill  all  proba- 
i  of  tlio  Jesuit 
sir  jiart  as  tlio 
tlie  press  by 
)een  iVoin  any 
lounccment  of 
veu  it  circula- 
i\  for  the  next 
,t  attribute  the 
■),  as  tlioy  neg- 
n  their  posses- 
t  oblivion,  bad 
i'enot  who  had 
with  the  im- 
;81,  called  Ke- 
ler  Marquette 
le  Mississippi, 
cript  like  that 
e  the  cause  of 
have  assumed, 
and  occasional 
nd.    The  map 
e  hand-writing 

te  of  the  church  in 

euk;  hut  with  that 

old  Mnckinnw,  nixl 

iind  of  Marquette's 


of  Father  Marquette,  that  it  is  not  probable  that  it  was 
taken  from  it.  With  greater  likelihood  wo  may  believe  it  to 
bo  JoUiut's  map  drawn  from  recollection,  which  Frontenac, 
as  his  despatch  tells  us,  transmitted  to  Franco  in  1G74.  If 
this  1)0  so,  it  has  a  new  value  as  an  original  map,  and  not  a 
blundering  copy.  Sparks,  in  his  life  of  Father  Marquette, 
observes  truly  of  this  first-published  map  of  the  Mi8si8sii)pi, 
"It  was  impossible  to  construct  it,  without  having  seen  the 
principal  objects  delineated  ;"  and  he  adds,  "It  should  bo 
kept  in  mind  that  this  map  was  published  at  Paris,  in  the 
year  IGSl,  and  consequently  the  year  before  the  discoveries 
of  La  Sallo  on  the  Mississippi,  and  that  no  intelligence  re- 
specting tlie  country  it  represents,  could  liavc  been  obtained 
from  any  source  subsequently  to  the  voyage  of  Marquette."* 

Of  the  narrative  itself,  he  says,  "It  is  written  in  a  terse, 
simple,  and  unpretending  style.  The  author  relates  what  oc- 
curs, and  describes  what  ho  sees  without  embellisliment  or 
display.  He  writes  as  a  scliolar,  and  as  a  man  of  careful  ob- 
servation and  practical  sense.  There  is  no  tendency  to  exag- 
gerate, nor  any  attempt  to  magnify  the  difficulties  he  had  to 
encounter,  or  the  importance  of  his  discovery.  In  every  point 
of  view,  this  tract  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  those, 
which  illustrate  the  early  history  of  America." 

In  spite  of  all  this  it  was  overlooked  and  nearly  forgotten  ; 
all  tlie  writers  connected  with  La  Salle's  expedition  except 
the  first  edition  of  Hennepin,  published  in  1683,  speak  of 
Jolliet's  voyage  as  a  fiction.     Marquette  they  never  mention; 

*  The  map  in  Thevenot  had  an  addition  of  the  editor  in  the  words  chemin  de 
l'ftllt''e,  and  chemin  du  retour.  Tlie  latter  is  incorrect,  but  it  came  from  his  en- 
deavor to  make  Father  Marquette  meet  the  Peorias  on  his  return.  He  did  not 
know  that  the  villages  went  into  a  body  to  hunt,  and  that  the  two  explorers 
mi<!;lit  thus  have  met  tliem  below  the  Ilinois  river,  or  on  it.  Other  errors  on  the 
map  are  ensily  rectified.  The  change  of  the  letter  gives  us  Missoousing,  Cach- 
kachkia,  Demon  (des  monts),  Pewarea,  Allini-wek,  &c. 


'    ,.!' 


.Hi'lll 


;i....„  II 


I  11': 


i::'ii 


h!!'-*' 


pilljlli^sllji' 

'"■■•■llljl 


ii'Hi 


|i>iill 

,!lllll!i' 


lll.l, 


yi 

ii'iti, 


iiiiip 

ili' 


II 


^n,(jt 


^  ,."«'1!2 


Ixxvi 


MFIC   OF   FATIIKR   MAKQUKTTK. 


but  in  Lo  Clercq  and  those  whom  he  cites,  in  the  second 
Hennepin,  in  Jontel,  in  all  in  fact,  except  the  faithful  Tonty, 
the  nairativo  of  Maiqnctte  is  derided,  called  a  fable,  or  nar- 
rative of  a  piete!ided  voyage ;  and  one  actually  goes  so  far  as 
to  say  that,  sailing  np  the  river  with  the  book  in  his  hand,  ho 
could  not  find  a  word  of  truth  in  it.  As  a  necessary  result 
of  these  assertions  which  few  examined,  most  writers  in 
France  and  elsewhere  passed  over  it,  and  in  works  on  the 
MisBi88ii)pi,  no  discovery  prior  to  that  of  La  Salle  is  men- 
tioned. Even  Harris,  who  cites  Marquette  by  name  as  descri- 
bing the  calumet,  and  calls  him  a  man  of  good  sense  and  fair 
cluiracter,  does  not  give  him  due  credit  as  the  first  explorer.* 

"  Indeed  the  services  and  narrative  wonld  hardly  have  es- 
caped from  oblivion,  .had  not  Charlevoix  brought  them  to 
light  in  his  great  work  on  Canada,  nearly  seventy  years  after 
the  events.''! 

As  to  tlie  charges  themselves,  they  are  clearly  refuted  by 
Frontenac's  despatches.  Hennepin,  in  his  Description  de  la 
Louisiane,  (p.  13),  and  F.  Anastasius  in  Le  Clercq  (p.  364), 
admit  that  Jolliet  descended  the  Mississippi  below  the  mouth 
of  the  Missouri.  Membre  evidently  alludes  to  his  work  (p. 
259).  Thus  even  his  maligners  admit  that  he  was  on  the 
river,  and  without  the  despatches,  without  the  force  of  its  pub- 
lication prior  to  La  Salle's  voyage,  wo  ueed  only  weigh  the 
respective  writers  by  their  works.  We  find  in  Marquette 
simple  narrative,  in  the  others,  the  declamation  of  partisans, 
and  the  disposition  to  deprive  Jolliet  and  Marquette  of  the 
honor  of  "eaching  the  Mississippi  at  all,  though  they  are 
forced  to  admit  it. 

*  Vol  ii.,  p.  351.  On  the  preceding  pnge  he  has  a  summary,  but  just  condem- 
nation of  Hennepin  and  Lahontan. 

f  And  even  he  misdates  the  time  of  its  piiblication.  Thevenot's  edition,  of 
which  Harvard  possesses  a  copy,  was  issued  in  1681,  not  1687. 


^^ 


LIFE  OF    FATIIKU   MAUliLirriE. 


Ixxvii 


the  second 
Ithful  Tonty, 
'able,  or  nar- 
^oes  BO  far  rb 
his  liand,  he 
jessary  result 
it  writers   in 
woiks  on  tho 
5allo  is  men- 
itne  as  deecri- 
enso  and  fair 
rst  explorer.* 
irdly  have  es- 
ight  them  to 
ty  years  after 

•ly  refuted  by 
cription  de  la 
ereq  (p.  364), 
ow  the  mouth 
>  his  work  (p. 
e  was  on  the 
roe  of  its  pub- 
nly  weigh  the 
in  Marquette 
1  of  partisans, 
quette  of  the 
iigh  they  are 

but  just  condem- 
trenot's  edition,  of 


Meanwhile  one  of  the  copies,  after  liuving  bet-n  pivpared 
for  publication  by  Father  Claude  Dablon,  snperinr  of  the 
mission,  with  the  introductory  and  8Ui)pluuu;ntary  mattt-r  in 
the  form  in  which  wo  now  give  it,  lay  unnotici-d  and  un- 
known in  the  archives  of  the  Jesuit  college  at  Queln'c.  It 
did  not  even  fall  into  the  hands  of  Father  Cluulevuix  when 
collecting  material  for  his  history,  for  he  seems  to  liavo  nuulo 
little  research  if  any  into  the  manuscripts  at  the  culloge  of 
Quebec.  A  few  years  after  the  publication  of  his  work, 
Canada  fell  into  the  hands  of  Knghind,  ajul  the  Jesuits  and 
Recollects,  as  religious  orders,  were  condemned,  the  reception 
of  new  members  being  positively  forbidden.  The  membera 
of  each  order  now  formed  Toiitintj*,  the  whole  property,  on  the 
death  (»f  the  last  survivor,  to  go  to  the  British  government, 
or  to  the  law  knows  whom,  if  t^ituated  in  the  United  States. 

The  last  survivor  of  the  Jesuits,  Father  Cazot,  after  behold- 
ing that  venerable  institution,  the  college  of  Quebec  closed 
for  want  of  professors,  and  Canada  deprived  of  its  oidy  and 
Northern  America  of  its  oldest  collegiate  seat  of  learning, 
felt  at  last  that  death  would  soon  close  with  him  the  Society 
of  Jesus  in  Canada.  A  happy  forethought  for  the  historic 
past  induced  him  to  wish  to  commit  to  other  than  to  state 
hands,  some  objects  and  documents  regarded  as  relics  by  the 
members  of  his  society.  Of  these  he  nuide  a  selection,  un- 
fortunately too  moderate  and  too  I'npid,  and  these  paj^ers  he 
deposited  in  the  Hotel  Dieu,  or  hospital  at  Quebec,  an  insti- 
tution destined  to  remain,  as  the  nuns  who  directed  it  had 
not  fallen  imder  the  ban  (»f  the  government.  They  continued 
in  their  hands  from  shortly  before  1800  till*  1844,  when  the 
faithful  guardians  of  the  trust  presented  them  to  the  Rev.  F. 
Martin,  one  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  who  returned  in  1842  to  the 
scene  of  the  labore  and  sacrifices  of  their  society.    On  the 


p'""ll' 


Ixxviii 


LIFE   OF    FATIIKU    MAKQUKTTE. 


ifi»li 


liili! 


III?'!]''''" 

i "' 


.  Jill  .:'i: 


application  of  Mv.  B.  F.  Frencli  to  jmblisli  the  narrative  of 
Marquette  in  his  Historical  Collections,  and  apply  the  pro- 
ceeds, and  such  other  sums  as  might  be  received,  to  the  erec- 
tion of  a  monument  to  the  great  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  manuscript  journal  and  map  were  committed  to  the  hands 
of  the  writer  of  these  sketches. 

This  narrative  is  a  very  small  quarto,  written  in  a  very 
clear  hand,  with  occasional  corrections,  comprising  in  all, 
sixty  pages.  Of  these,  thirty-seven  contain  his  voyage  down 
the  Mississippi,  which  is  complete  except  a  hiatus  of  one  leaf 
in  the  chapter  on  the  calumet;  the  rest  are  taken  up  with  the 
account  of  his  secoiid  voyage,  death  and  burials,  and  the 
voyage  of  Father  Allouez.  The  last  nine  lines  on  page  60, 
are  in  the  hand-writing  of  Father  Dablon,  and  were  written 
.•'s  late  as  1678. 

With  it  were  found  the  original  map  in  the  hand-writing 
of  Father  Marquette,  as  published  now  for  the  first  time,  and 
a  letter  begun  but  never  ended  by  him,  addressed  to  Father 
Dablon,  containing  a  journal  of  the  voyage  on  which  he  died, 
beginning  with  the  twenty  sixth  of  October,  (1674),  and  run- 
ning down  to  the  sixth  of  April.  The  endorsements  on  it, 
in  the  same  hand  as  the  direction  ascribe,  the  letter  to 
Father  Marquette;  and  a  comparison  between  it,  the  written 
parts  of  the  map,  and  a  signature  of  his  found  in  a  parish 
register  at  Boucherville,  would  alone,  without  any  knowledge 
of  its  history,  estal)lish  tlie  authenticity  of  the  map  and  l<itter. 


nitive  of 
the  pro- 
tlie  erec- 
ssissippi, 
lie  hands 


I  a  very 
ig  in  all, 

II  ge  down 
'one  leaf 
»  with  the 

and  the 

page  60, 

le  written 

id-writing 
time,  and 
to  Father 
li  he  died, 

and  run- 
nts  on  it, 

letter  to 
10  written 
1  a  parish 
<i)owledge 
and  I'itter. 


NOTICE  ON  THE  SIEUR  JOLLIET. 

Afi'KR  so  extended  a  notice  on  Father  Marquette,  it  would 
seem  unjust  to  say  nothing  of  his  illustrious  companion  in  hi8 
great  voyage.  It  would  be  doubly  interesting  to  give  a  full 
account  of  Jolliet,  as  he  was  a  native  of  the  country,  but  un- 
fortunately our  materials  are  scanty  and  our  notices  vague. 

Neither  his  birthplace  nor  its  epoch  has,  as  Air  as  the 
present  writer  knows,  been  ascertained.  His  education  ho 
owed  to  the  Jesuit  college  of  Quebec,  where,  unless  I  am 
mistaken,  he  was  a  class-mate  of  the  first  Canadian  who  was 
advanced  to  the  priesthood.  Jolliet  was  thus  connected  with 
the  Jesuits,  and  apparently  was  an  assistant  in  the  college. 
After  leaving  them,  he  proceeded  to  tlie  west  to  seek  his  for- 
tune in  the  fur-trade.  Here  he  was  always  on  terms  of  inti- 
macy with  the  missionaries,  and  acquired  the  knowledge  and 
experience  which  induced  the  government  to  select  him  as 
the  explorer  of  the  Mississippi. 

This  choice  was  most  agreeable  to  the  missionaries,  and  he 
and  Marquette  immortalized  their  names.  Tliey  explored 
the  great  river,  and  settled  all  doubts  as  to  its  course.  On 
his  return  Jolliet  lost  all  his  papers  in  the  rapids  above  Mon- 
treal, and  could  make  but  a  verbal  report  to  the  govei-nment. 
This,  however,  he  reduced  to  writing,  and  accompanied  with 
a  map  drawn  from  recollectidn.     On  the  transmlp^lDii  of  these 


mk, 


!!"""!  |',[l' 


!llil..' 


Illli 


i 


r  \:m 


in 


m,  fw 


liii 


liiiiii  .iiiife 


I  JK  ■■■  ■■''Mil'  '■  ■■     ■■! 


Sili'MiHHli,  „|fl. 


81 '1 


•"'ill  !!■ ':  IJ!;''' 

Wl||':lll||||;!!rl"l'*l!i 

jIHl,.    >':•"»<    -^ 
lii[||iiiilr'"i 


!i 


'lllliMlnir 


mliM!;;!;! 


I 


m 


bH'ii 


Ixxx 


NOTICE   ON  THE   6IEUK   JOLLIET. 


to  France,  lie,  doubtless,  e5  pected  to  be  enabled  to  carry  out 
such  plans  as  he  had  conceived,  and  to  profit  to  some  extent 
by  his  great  discovery.  But  he  was  thrown  aside  by  more 
flattered  adventurers.  The  discoverer  of  Mississippi  was  re- 
warded as  if  in  mockery  with  an  island  in  the  gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence.  This  was  Anticosti,  and  here  JoUiet  built  a  fort 
and  a  dwelling  for  his  family,  and  houses  for  trade.  They 
were  not,  however,  destined  to  be  a  source  of  emolument  to 
him.  His  labors  were  devoted  also  to  other  fields.  Thus 
we  find  him,  in  1689,  in  the  emi)loyment  of  the  government, 
rendering  essential  services  in  the  west. 

Two  years  after  his  island  was  taken  by  the  English  fleet, 
and  he  himself,  with  liis  wife  and  mother-in-law,  probably 
while  attempting  to  reach  Quebec,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Phipps,  the  English  commander.  His  vessel  and  property 
were  a  total  loss,  but  his  liberty  he  recovered  when  the  Eng- 
lish retired  from  the  walls  of  Quebec. 

Of  his  subsequent  history  there  are  but  occasional  traces, 
and  we  know  only  that  he  died  some  years  prior  to  1737. 

Authorities:  Charlevoix,  La  Jlontan,  vol.  i.,  p.  323;  ii.,  p.  10.  MS.  Journal 
of  the  Superior  of  the  Jesuits.  BouchctC s  Topograph,  Die.  Canada.  Titles:  .^n- 
ticosti  and  Jolliet. 


'% 


to  carry  out 
some  extent 
side  by  more 
5sippi  was  re- 
e  gulf  of  St. 
)t  built  a  fort 
trade.  They 
smolument  to 
fields.  Thus 
government, 

English  fleet, 
law,  probably 
the  hands  of 
and  property 
vhen  the  Eng- 

asional  traces, 
)r  to  1737. 

10.     MS.  Journal 
ada.    Titles:  -4n- 


RELATION 


OF   THE 


VOYAGES,  DISCOVERIES,  AND  DEATH, 


Of 


FATHER  JAMES  MAIiQUETTE, 


THE  SUBSEQUENT  VOYAGES  OF  FATHER  CLAUDIUS  ALLOUEZ, 

FATHER  CLAUDIUS  DABLON, 

SUPERIOR  OF  THE  MI88IONS   OK  THE  SOCIETY   OF  JESUS,    IN    NEW  FRANCE. 


ir:  \ 


PREPARED  FOR  PUBLICATION  IN  1678. 


■|  m 


ii"  ,1' 


'^i 


NOTICE  ON  FATHER  DABLON. 


iu. 


liHTl!      '     !l 


•  y:il 


ii!"l!| 


lip 


Father  Claudius  Dablon  came  to  Canada  in  1655,  and  was  immediately  sent 
to  Onondaga,  where  he  continued  with  but  one  short  interval  of  absence  till  the 
mission  was  broken  up  in  1C58.  Three  years  after,  he  and  the  hardy  Druilletcs 
attempted  to  reach  Hudson's  bay,  by  the  Saguenay,  but  wore  arrested  at  the 
sources  of  the  Nekouba  by  Iroquois  war-parties.  In  1068,  he  followed  Fatlier 
Marquette  to  Lake  Superior,  became  superior  of  the  Ottawa  mission,  founded 
Sault  St.  Mary's,  visited  Green  bay,  and  reached  tlie  Wisconsin  with  Alloucz. 
then  returned  to  Quebec  to  assume  his  post  as  superior  of  all  the  Canada  mis- 
sions. This  office  he  held  with  intervals  for  many  years,  certainly  till  1693, 
and  he  was  still  alive,  but  not  apparently  superior  in  the  following  year.  As 
the  head  of  the  missions,  he  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  their  extension, 
and  above  all,  to  the  exploration  of  the  Mississippi,  by  Marquette.  He  pub- 
lished the  Relations  of  1670-'7l,  and  '72,  with  their  accurate  map  of  Lake 
Superior,  and  prepared  for  press  those  of  1672-73  and  1073-79,  which  still  re- 
main in  manuscript,  and  the  following  narratives  of  Marquette  and  Allouez. 
Tlie  period  of  his  death  is  unknown. 

His  writings  are  the  most  valuable  collection  on  the  topography  of  the  north- 
west, which  have  come  down  to  our  days. 


I 


.-.'V 


:l!!ll!^, 


Hll 


ii.ii 


fj'i' 


THE 


VOYAGES  AND  DISCOVERIES 


)N. 

j9  immediately  sent 
i\  of  absence  till  the 
tlie  hardy  Druilletcs 
'ore  arrested  at  the 
he  followed  Father 
wa  mission,  founded 
jonsin  with  Allouez. 
all  the  Canada  mis- 
,  certainly  till  1693, 
following  year.    As 
ee  to  their  extension, 
ilarquelte.     He  piih- 
jurate  mop  of  Lake 
?3-79,  -which  still  re- 
rquette  and  Allouez. 

jgraphy  of  the  norlli- 


OF 


FATHER  JAMES  MARQUETTE, 


IN 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  Mi^SSISSIPPL 


CHAPTER  I. 

OF  THE  FIRST  VOYAGE  MADE  BY  FATHER  MARQUETTE  TOWARD  NEW 
MEXICO,  ASD  HOW  THE  DESIGlf  WAS  CONCEIVED. 

FATHER   Marquette  had   long  projected  this  enter- 
prise, impelled  by  his  ardent  desire  of  extending  the 
kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  making  him  known  and 
adored  by  all  the  nations  of  that  country.    He  beheld  him- 
iself,  as  it  were,  at  the  door  of  these  new  nations,  when,  in 
L670,  he  was  laboring  at  the  mission  of  Lapointe  du  St. 
Jlsprit,*  which  is  at  the  extremity  of  the  upper  Lake  of  the 
>ttawa8.    He  even  saw  at  times  many  of  those  new  tribes, 
joncerning  whom  he  gathered  all  the  information  that  he 
sould.    This  induced  him  to  make  several  efforts  to  undor- 
Eike  the  enterprise,  but  always  in  vain;  he  had  even  given 

*  This  place  is  now  called  simply  Lapointe,  ns  the  lake  is  called  Superior, 
etaiuing  only  the  first  word  of  its  former  name,  Lao  Superieur  aux  Outaoiiacs, 


I'llHl 


» 


'i^li'iftl 


\l' 


'■  i'»Mi, 


1   \f    .-■  l.lk 


Mjm 


11- 


[«|y 


"111' 


j  i::4i„.ii|;,,i.iiii!|; 


!'  I'll  I'l 
»'»»lr!l!l" 


ifftllljjJilllll'liit "illi! 


kl!i  ill  "I  il  ii''iii!,lii;ii 


4  NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 

up  all  hopes  of  succeeding,  when  the  Almighty  presented 
him  the  following  opportunity : — 

In  1673,  thfi  Comte  de  Frontenac,*  our  governor  and  Mr. 
Talon  then  our  intend  ant,  knowing  the  importance  of  this 
discovery,  either  to  seek  a  passage  from  hero  to  the  China 
sea  by  the  river  which  empties  into  the  California  or  Red 
8ea,f  or  to  verify  what  was  atterward  said  of  the  two  king- 
doms of  Theguaio  and  Quivira,  which  border  on  Canada,  and 
where  gold  mines  are,  it  is  said  abundant,:}:  these  gentlemen, 

*  Louis  de  Buade,  Conito  de  Frontennc,  succeeded  M.  de  Courcelles  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  Canada,  in  1672.  M.  Talon,  the  wise  and  energetic  inlendant  of  the 
colony,  seeing  the  advantages  to  be  derived  to  France  from  the  discovery  of  the 
Mississippi  river,  immediately,  on  the  arrival  of  Comte  de  Frontenac,  laid  before 
him  his  plan  for  exploring  that  river,  which  was  adopted,  and  the  administra- 
tion of  Frontenac  is  signalized  by  the  first  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  by  Mar- 
quette and  Jr'lyet,  between  the  Wisconsin  and  Arkansas,  and  by  the  subsequent 
voyage  of  La  Salle,  who  continued  the  survey  to  the  gulf,  while  his  companion, 
Hennepin,  visited  the  portion  between  the  Wisconsin  and  St.  Anthony's  falls. 
But  before  the  return  of  La  Salle,  Comte  de  Frontenac's  term  had  expired,  and 
he  was,  in  1682,  succeeded  by  M.  Lefebore  de  la  Barre.  But  he  was  afterward 
re-Inbtated  governor  of  Canada  in  1689,  and  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven. 
He  was  a  brave  and  ambitious  man,  and  to  his  wise  administration  may  be 
attributed  tl  e  consolidation  of  Frencli  power  in  North  America. — F. 

\  The  gulf  of  California  was  called  by  the  Spaniards  Mar  de  Cortes,  u/  more 
commonly  Mar  Bermejo,  from  its  resemblance  in  shape  and  color  to  the  Rod 
eea.  Gomara  His  de  las  Indias,  p.  12.  Cluvier  Introductio.  Venegas  Ilis- 
toria  de  la  California.  Clavigero,  Storia  della  California,  p.  29.  In  ignorance  of 
this  fact,  the  French  translated  Bermejo  by  Vermeille,  and  English  writers 
Vermillion. 

J  Theguaio,  or  commonly  Tiguex,  and  sometimes  apparently  Tejns,  and  Qui- 
vira, were  two  kingdoms  as  to  which  the  imagination  of  the  Hpnniards,  and  oape- 
cially  of  the  Mexicans,  had  become  so  aroused  that  Feijoo  in  his  Toatro  Critico 
includes  them  in  the  category  of  fabled  lands,  St.  Brandon's  Isle,  the  Eldorado, 
Ac,  although  he  admits  that  he  hesitated  as  he  found  Quivira  mentioned  by 
every  geographer.  These  two  kingdoms  which  lay  east  of  the  country  north  of 
the  river  Gila,  and  are  probably  the  present  New  Mexico  and  Texas,  were  fi."«t 
made  known  by  the  attempt  of  a  Franciscan  missionary  to  reach  the  rich  coun- 
tries of  the  interior  which  had  been  spoken  of  by  Cnljeza  de  Vaea.  Tlie  mission- 
ary in  question.  Fray  Mare,  a  native  of  Nice  in  Italy,  crossed  the  Gila,  and  from 
the  well-built  houses  and  cotton  dresses  of  the  people,  easily  gave  credit  to  the 
accounts  of  more  wealthy  tribes.  A  subsequent  expedition  shoAved  that  he  limi 
been  mistaken,  and  none  but  hardy  missionaries  sought  to  penetrate  to  the  fabled 


e:. 

;hty  presented 

emor  and  Mr. 
)rtance  of  this 
)  to  the  China 
ifomia  or  Red 
the  two  king- 
m  Canada,  and 
ese  gentlemen, 

Burcelles  in  the  gov- 
itic  inlendant  of  the 
;he  discovery  of  the 
■ontennc,  laid  before 
and  the  administra- 

Mississippi  by  Mar- 
1  by  tlie  subsequent 
vhile  his  companion, 

St.  Anthony's  falls, 
■m  had  expired,  and 
it  he  was  afterward 
ge  of  seventy-seven, 
nini&tration  may  be 
■ica.— F. 

r  de  Cortes,  vj**  more 
id  color  to  the  Red 
ctio.  Venegas  His- 
59.  In  ignorance  of 
ind  English  writers 

ntly  Tejas,  and  Qui- 
Rpaniards,  and  cspc- 
in  his  Tcatro  Critico 
's  Isle,  the  Eldorado, 
uivira  mentioned  by 
the  country  north  of 
ind  Texas,  were  fi."«t 
reach  the  rich  ooun- 
Vaca.  Tlie  mission- 
d  the  Gila,  and  from 
ly  gave  credit  to  the 
showed  that  ho  Imd 
enetrate  to  the  fallccl 


DISCOVERIES  IN   THE  MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 


5 


I  say,  both  at  tlie  same  time  selected  for  the  enterprise  the 
Siour  Jollyet,  whom  they  deemed  competent  fur  so  great  a 
design,  wishing  to  see  Father  Marquette  accompany  him.* 

They  were  not  mistaken  in  their  choice  of  the  Slenr  Jollyet, 
for  he  was  a  young  man,  born  in  this  country,  and  emlowed 
with  every  quality  that  could  be  desired  in  such  an  enterprise. 
He  possessed  experience  and  a  knowledge  of  the  languages  of 
the  Ottawaf  country,  where  he  had  spent  several  years ;  he 
had  the  tact  and  prudence  so  necessary  for  the  success  of  a 
voyage  equally  dangerous  and  difficult;  and,  lastly,  he  had 
courage  to  fear  nothing  where  all  is  to  be  feared.  He  ac- 
cordingly fulfilled  the  expectations  entertained  of  him,  and 
if,  after  having  passed  through  dangers  of  a  thousand  kinds, 
he  had  not  unfortunately  been  wrecked  in  the  very  harbor-— 
his  canoe  having  upset  below  the  Saut  St.  Louis,  near  Mon- 
treal, where  he  lost  his  men  and  papers,  and  only  escaped 
by  a  kind  of  miracle  with  his  life  —  the  success  of  his  voyage 
•had  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 

land.  Tlie  belief  cf  its  mineral  wealth  was,  however,  too  deeply  rooted  to  be 
easily  shaken,  and  the  discovery  of  California's  resources  in  our  days  lins  justi- 
fied it,  and  nhowu  thot  Talon  in  seeking  to  reach  California  from  Canada, 
ottempted  no  ciumcrical  project 

*  It  woiiM  Rc  iii  by  tliia  wording  that  Marquette  was  not  officially  chosen  for 
the  expedition.  The  troubles  at  the  time  between  the  civil  and  eeclesinstical 
authorities  will  account  for  this,  while  the  researches  made  by  Marquette  as  to 
the  river,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  Indians  and  their  dialects,  rendered  it  im- 
portant that  he  sliould  be  one  of  the  party.  Tliat  his  account  alone  survived,  and 
that  it  was  published  in  his  name,  was  something  neither  expected  nor  intended 
by  any  of  (liose  concerned,  as  M.  Jollyet  had  prepare  1  an  account  of  the  expedi- 
tion, the  loss  of  wliich,  as  stated  in  the  text,  alone  raised  thejourniil  of  Father 
Marquette  to  its  present  degree  of  importance.  (In  1680,  the  French  govern- 
ment rewarded  the  Sieur  Jollyet  for  this  eminent  service  by  n  grant  of  the 
island  of  Anticosti,  in  the  gulf  of  St  Lawrence ;  and,  in  1607,  by  the  scignory  of 
Jollyet  in  Beauce  coimty,  Canada,  which  is  now  the  property  of  I  lie  Hon.  T. 
Taschereau,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  court,  of  King's  bench.) 

f  The  Ottawas,  or  Outaouacs,  were  first  called  by  tlie  French,  Clicveux  Re- 
levfis,  and  ploced  on  Great  Manitouline.—CArt/n;)/«fw,  262,  Sffjnrd,  Jul.  Their 
Indian  name  is  then  given  in  the  form,  Andatahouats.    Tlie  earli.r  .Icsuit  Uola< 


|m'*'I»I, 


h''*> 


'" 


if  I    '"',.-K!i,| 


ji.' 


lili 


ip'!*i*,  I' 


i9h-,  ,„  "■ 

MlhiiiHiil.  ■■'0 

i|:!!!!i;:.^fe' 

.iiftil||i!:ii!|iii;!:ii"'"|liiilj 


'^|;fi,;;i!.„„;;,|;' 


NARRATIVE  OF   FATUER  MARQUETTE. 


SECTION   I. 

DEPAHTURE  OF  FATHER  JAMES  MARQUETTE  FOR  THE  DISCOfERY  OF  THE 
(iREAT  RIVER,  CALLED  BY  THE  INDIANS  MlSSISlPt,  WHICH  LEADS  TO  NEW 
MEXICO. 

The  day  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, whom  I  had  alwaj's  invoked  since  I  have  been  in  this 
Ottawa  country,  to  obtain  of  God  the  grace  to  be  able  to  visit 
the  nations  on  the  river  Missisipi,*  was  identically  that  on 
which  M.  Jollyet  arrived  with  ordere  of  the  Comte  de  Fron- 
tenac,  our  governor,  and  M.  Talon,  our  intendant,  to  make 
this  discovery  with  me.  I  was  the  more  enraptured  at  this 
good  news,  as  I  saw  my  designs  on  the  point  of  being  accom- 
plished, and  myself  in  the  happy  necessity  of  exposing  my 
life  for  the  salvation  of  all  these  nations,  and  particularly  for 
the  Ilinois,  who  had,  when  I  was  at  Lapointe  du  St.  Esprit, 
very  earnestly  entreated  me  to  carry  the  word  of  God  to  their 
country. 

We  were  not  long  in  preparing  our  outfit,  although  we 

tions  coll  them  Ondatawawak,  and  Bressani,  Ondawawat.  Under  the  form  Outa- 
ouacs  (Uttawax),  it  was  applied  as  a  general  term  to  all  the  Algonquin  tribes  on 
Lake  Superior  and  Michigan  who  traded  with  the  French.  Tlie  English  in  the 
same  way  applied  to  them  the  name  of  the  tribe  which  they  called  ChippewayR, 
and  the  Frencli,  Outehibouec,  which  is  still  more  diversified  by  the  new  spelling 
Ojibwa,  introduced  by  Schoolcraft. 

*  The  name  of  this  river  is  derived  from  the  Algonquin  language  one  of  tli« 
original  tongues  of  our  continent  It  was  spoken  by  every  tribe  from  the  Chesa- 
peake to  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  running  westward  to  the  Mississippi  and 
Lake  Superior.  The  Abn.ikis,  Montagnnis,  Algonquins  proper,  Ottnwns,  Nipis- 
sings,  Nezporces,  Illinois,  Miamis,  Sacs,  Foxes,  Mohegnns,  Delawaros,  Slinwnflos 
and  Virginia  Indians,  as  well  as  the  minor  tribes  of  New  England,  all  spoken 
dialects  of  this  widespread  language.  The  only  exception  in  this  vast  strip  of 
territory,  was  the  IIuron-Troquois  langii(i<jje,  sjioken  by  the  Ilurons,  Petuns, 
Neuters,  and  Iroquois,  which  is  distinct  from  the  Algonquin.  The  word  Missis- 
sippi is  a  compound  of  the  word  Afim,  signifying  great,  and  Sepe,  a  river.    The 


'A 


fn 


;■:!';■ 


,      ! 


ii:i'"ih 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


COVERY  OF  THE 
LEADS   TO  NEW 

i  Blessed  Vir- 
I  been  in  this 
)e  able  to  visit 
;ically  that  on 
omte  de  Fron- 
dant,  to  make 
iptured  at  this 
f  being  accom- 
'  exposing  my 
particularly  for 
du  St.  Esprit, 
of  God  to  the'r 

t,  although  we 

nder  the  form  Outa- 

Algonquin  tribes  on 

The  English  in  the 

culled  Chippewnyn, 

by  the  new  spelling 

langunge  one  of  the 
i-ibe  from  the  Chesa- 

the  Mississippi  nnd 
per,  Ottnwns,  Nipis- 
>ehv\vnros,  Slmwiiflos 
England,  nil  spoken 
in  this  vast  strip  of 
he  Ilurons,  Pctuns, 
Tlie  word  Missis- 

Sepe,  a  river.    The 


were  embarking  on  a  voyage  the  duration  of  which  we  could 
not  foresee.  Indian  com,  with  some  dried  meat,  was  our 
whole  stock  of  provisions.  With  this  we  set  out  in  two  bark 
canoes,*  M.  Jollyet,  myself,  and  five  men,  firmly  resolved  to 
do  all  and  suffer  all  for  so  glorious  an  enterprise. 

It  was  on  the  17th  of  May,  1673,  that  we  started  from  the 
mission  of  St.  Ignatius  at  Michilimakinac,t  where  I  then  was. 
Our  joy  at  being  chosen  for  this  expedition  roused  our  cour- 
age, and  sweetened  the  labor  of  rowing  from  morning  till 
night.  As  we  were  going  to  seek  unknown  countries,  we 
took  all  possible  precautions,  that,  if  our  enterprise  was  haz- 
ardous, it  should  not  be  foolhardy :  for  this  reason  we  gathered 
all  possible  information  from  Indians  who  had  frequented 
those  parts,  and  even  from  their  accounts  traced  a  map  of  all 
the  new  co'Vutry,  marking  down  tlie  rivers  on  which  we  were 
to  sail,  the  names  of  the  nations  and  places  through  which 


former  is  variously  pronounced  Missil,  or  Mich'd,  as  in  Michilimackinac ;  Michi, 
as  in  Michigan ;  Mmii,  as  in  Missouri ;  and  Missi,  as  in  Mississippi.  The  word 
Sipi  may  bo  considered  as  the  English  pronunciation,  derived  through  the 
medium  of  the  French,  of  Sfpe,  and  nffords  an  instance  of  an  Indian  term  of 
much  melody,  being  corrupted  by  Europeans,  into  one  that  has  a  harsh  and 
hissing  sound. — F. 

*  Tlie  two  frail  canoes  which  bore  these  adventurous  travellers  from  the 
snows  of  Canada  to  the  more  genial  clime  of  the  Arkansas,  were  constructed 
entirely  different  from  those  wood  canoes  with  which  the  Indians  navigated  the 
Hudson,  and  the  Delaware,  and  which  we  still  occasionally  see  in  use  among 
our  western  tribos.  The  Canadian  canoe  made  use  of  in  this  expedition,  was 
built  of  birch-bark,  cedar  splints,  and  ribs  of  spruce  roots,  covered  with  yellow 
j)ine  pitch,  so  light  and  so  strong,  that  they  could  be  carried  across  portages  on 
the  shoulders  of  four  men,  and  paddled  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  per  hour  in 
smooth  water.  For  river  navigation,  where  there  are  no  rapids  or  portages^ 
nothing  could  be  better  adapted  for  explorations;  and  thoy  were  used  in  subse- 
quent expeditions  to  explore  the  Missouri,  St.  Peter's,  Columbia,  and  Mackenzie 
(rivers. — F. 

f  This  is  not  the  island,  but  the  point  north  of  it  in  the  present  county  of 
l^that  name.  (Charlevoix.)  The  mission  was  subsequently  on  the  south,  if  we 
I'credit  Charlevoix's  maps,  and  finally  on  the  island  of  that  name. 


,,.,,, 


R 


I '■'.«■ 


Ill"-,,  ii 


j:iil!i 


fill        'I      ,,|'.M        ■ 

ml.} 

4,  'M    ,  I. 


Shi,  i'" 


'l;i.i:ir|l|il!ll''"i'|i|j'h 


i%:-"p, ',1  :• 

feirii''''"i-'!l!''i| 

If!!  !!S  ;;.;:*! 
|«iiii:|jiiiii;;!p'''i*iijl 

I :■'""•!:'- 

'I  .  i!,'i|'l'"i|,  F.,'|l| 


iii||Hiiii!|||j|ill!| 

III  i  A-  ':\>'''     f'- 


iSm 


9  NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 

we  were  to  pnss,  the  coiu-ae  of  the  great  river,  and  what  direc- 
tion we  phould  take  M'hen  we  got  to  it. 

AboTe  all,  I  put  our  voyage  under  the  protection  of  the 
Blessed  Virjin  Immaculate,  promising  her,  that  if  she  did  us 
the  grace  to  discover  the  great  river,  I  would  give  it  the 
name  of  Conception ;  and  that  I  would  also  give  that  name 
to  the  first  mission  which  I  should  establish  among  these  new 
nations,  as  I  have  actually  done  among  the  Ilinois.* 


SECTION   II. 

THE  FAT'lER  nSITS  BY  THE  IVAY  THE  tyiLD-OATS  TRIBES.— WHAT  THESE 
WILD  OATS  ARE.— HE  ENTERS  THE  BAY  OF  THE  FETID.— SOME  PARTICULARS 
AS  TO  THIS  BAY.— HE  REACHES  THE  FIRE  NATION. 

"With  all  these  precautions,  we  made  our  paddles  play 
merrily  over  a  part  of  Lake  Huron  and  that  of  the  Hinois 
into  the  Bay  of  the  Fetid. 

The  first  nation  that  we  met  was  that  of  the  Wild  Oats.f 
I  entered  their  river  to  visit  them,  as  we  have  preached  the 

*  The  name  -which  the  pious  missionary  gave  to  the  Mississippi,  is  found  only 
here,  and  on  the  accompanying  map,  -wliich  corresponds  perfectly  with  his  nar- 
rative. The  name  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  which  he  gave  to  the  mistiion 
among  the  Knskaskias,  was  retained  as  long  as  that  mission  lasted,  and  is  nov 
the  title  of  the  church  in  the  present  town  of  Kaskaskia.  Although  his  wish 
woa  not  realized  in  the  name  of  the  great  river,  it  has  been  fulfilled  in  the  fact 
that  the  Blessed  Virgin,  under  the  title  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  has  been 
chosen  by  the  prelates  of  the  United  States  assembled  in  a  national  council,  as 
the  patroness  of  the  whole  country,  so  that  not  only  in  the  vast  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  but  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  the  Blessed  Virgin  Immaculate  is 
as  dear  to  every  American  Catholic,  as  is  Our  Lady  of  Guadaloupe  to  our  Mexi- 
can neighbors. 

f  Tliis  plant,  the  Zizania  Aqxiatica,  of  Linn.,  is  perennial  and  forms  the  prin- 
cipal food  of  most  of  the  northwestern  tribes.  It  ia  called  in  English,  wild  rice; 
and  in  French,  Folles-Avoine,  or  wild  oats.  It  was  first  accurately  described  in  the 
Rel,  1662-63,  apparently  from  Menard's  I^etters.  The  tribe  here  alluded  to  are 
the  Oumalouminik,  Malhominies  or  Menomonees,  whose  river  still  showB  their 
locality.— i2c/.  1672-73.  MS. 


DISCOVERIES   IN   THE   MISSISSIPPI   VALLET. 


nd  wbat  direc* 

tection  of  the 
it  if  she  did  us 
d  give  it  the 
ive  that  name 
ong  these  now 
lois.* 


1ES.-WHAT  THKSE 
OME  PARTICULARS 

'  paddles  play 
of  the  Ilinoia 

be  Wild  Oats.t 
e  preached  the 

ssippi,  is  found  only 
rfectly  with  his  nar- 
!  gave  to  the  mistiion 
n  lasted,  and  is  now 
Although  his  •wish 
1  fulfilled  in  the  fact 
Conception,  has  been 
I  national  council,  as 
lie  vast  valley  of  the 
Virgin  Immaculate  ia 
laloupe  to  our  Mexi- 

I  and  forms  the  prin- 
n  English,  wild  rice; 
ately  described  in  the 
e  here  alluded  to  are 
Lver  still  showe  their 


gospel  to  these  tribes  for  some  years  past,  so  that  there  are 
many  good  Christians  among  them. 

The  wild  oats,  from  which  they  take  their  name,  as  they  are 
found  in  their  country,  are  a  kind  of  grass  which  grows  spon- 
taneously in  little  rivere  with  slimy  bottoms,  and  in  marshy 
places ;  they  are  very  like  the  wild  oats  tliat  grow  up  among 
our  wheat.  The  ears  are  on  stalks  knotted  at  intervals ;  they 
rise  above  the  water  about  the  month  of  June,  and  keep  rising 
till  they  float  about  two  feet  above  it.  The  grain  is  not 
thicker  than  our  oats,  but  is  as  long  again,  so  that  the  meal  is 
much  more  abundant. 

The  following  is  the  manner  in  which  tin  Indians  gather  it 
and  prepare  it  for  eating.  In  the  month  of  September,  which 
is  the  proper  time  for  this  harvest,  they  go  in  canoes  across 
these  fields  of  wild  oats,  and  shake  the  ears  on  their  right 
and  left  into  the  canoe  as  they  advance ;  the  grain  falls  easily 
if  it  is  ripe,  and  in  a  little  while  their  provision  is  made.  To 
clear  it  from  the  chatf,  and  strip  it  of  a  pellicle  in  which  it  is 
enclosed,  they  put  it  to  dry  in  the  smoke  on  a  wooden  lattice, 
under  which  they  keep  up  a  small  fire  for  several  days. 
When  the  oats  are  well  dried,  they  put  them  in  a  skin  of  the 
form  of  a  bag,  which  is  then  forced  into  a  hole  made  on 
purpose  in  the  ground ;  they  then  tread  it  out  so  long  and  so 
well,  that  the  grain  being  freed  from  the  chaff  is  easily  win- 
nowed ;  after  which  they  pound  it  to  reduce  it  to  meal,  or 
even  unpounded,  boil  it  in  water  seasoned  with  grease,  and 
in  this  way,  wild  oats  are  almost  as  palatable  as  rice  would  be 
when  not  better  seasoned. 

I  informed  these  people  of  the  Wild  Oats  of  my  design  of 
going  to  discover  distant  nations  to  instruct  them  in  the  mys- 
teries of  our  Holy  Keligion ;  they  were  very  much  surprised, 
and  did  their  best  to  dissuade  me.    They  told  me,  that  I 


^ 

^^. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


1.1 


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u&  I 


£   U£    12.0 


IL25  II  1.4 


1.6 


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HiotDgraphic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


91  WIST  MAIN  STRif  T 

WiBSTM.N.Y.  MSM 

(716)873-4503 


'^ 


10 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATIIKR  MARQUETTE. 


mm 


iff 


iHH! 


i;i;;„ 


I 


would  meet  nations  that  never  spare  strangers,  but  tomahawk 
them  without  any  provocation ;  that  the  war  wliicli  had 
broken  out  among  various  nations  on  our  route,  exposed  us 
to  another  evident  danger — that  of  being  killed  by  the  war- 
parties  which  are  constantly  in  the  field;  that  the  Great 
River  is  very  dangerous,  unless  the  difficult  parts  are  known; 
that  it  was  full  of  frightful  monstera  who  swallowed  up  men 
and  canoes  together ;  that  thore  is  even  a  demon  there  who 
can  be  heard  from  afar,  who  stops  the  passage  and  engulfs 
all  who  dare  approach  ;  lastly,  that  the  heat  is  so  excessive  in 
those  countries,  that  it  would  infallibly  cause  our  death. 

I  thanked  them  for  their  kind  advice,  but  assured  them 
that  I  could  not  follow  it,  as  the  salvation  of  souls  was  con- 
cerned ;  that  for  them,  I  should  be  too  happy  to  lay  down 
my  life ;  that  I  made  light  of  their  pretended  demon,  that 
we  would  defend  ourselves  well  enough  against  the  river- 
monstere ;  and,  besides,  we  should  be  on  our  guard  to  avoid 
the  other  dangers  with  which  they  threatened  us.  After 
having  made  them  pray  and  given  them  some  instniction,  I 
left  them,  and,  embarking  in  our  canoes,  we  soon  after  reached 
the  extremity  of  the  Bay  of  the  Fetid,  where  our  Fathers 
labor  successfully  in  the  convereion  of  these  tribes,  having 
baptized  more  than  two  thousand  since  they  have  been  there. 

This  bay  beara  a  name  which  has  not  so  bad  a  meaning 
in  the  Indian  language,  for  they  call  it  rather  Salt  Bay 
than  Fetid  Bay,  although  among  them  it  is  almost  the  same, 
and  this  is  also  the  name  which  they  give  to  the  sea.  This 
induced  us  to  make  very  exact  researches  to  discover 
whether  there  were  not  in  these  parts  some  salt  springs,  as 
there  are  among  the  Iroquois,  but  we  could  not  find  any.* 

•  The  tribe  called  by  the  French,  Puants,  were  the  Ouenibegouc,  our  Winne- 
bagoes.    Rel.  1672-'?3.  MS.    Dela  Potherie,  vol.  ii.,  p.  48.    In  the  Relation  of 


DISCOVERIES  m  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


11 


We  accordingly  concluded  that  the  name  has  been  given  on 
account  of  the  quantity  of  slime  and  mud  there,  constantly 
exhaling  noisome  vapore  which  cause  the  loudest  and  longest 
peals  of  thvmdcr  that  I  ever  heard. 

The  bay  is  about  thirty  leagues  long,  and  eight  wide  at  its 
mouth;  it  narrows  gradually  to  the  extremity,  where  it  is  easy 
to  remark  the  tide  which  has  its  regular  flow  and  ebb,  almost 
like  that  of  the  sea.  This  is  not  the  place  to  examine  whether 
they  are  real  tides,  whether  they  are  caused  by  the  winds,  or 
by  some  other  age ;  whether  there  are  winds,  out-riders  of 
the  moon,  or  attached  to  her  suite,  who  consequently  agitato 
the  lake  and  give  it  a  kind  of  flow  and  ebb,  whenever  the 
moon  rises  above  the  horizon.  What  I  can  certainly  aver  is, 
that  when  the  water  is  quite  tranquil,  you  can  easily  see  it 
rise  and  fall  with  the  course  of  the  moon,  although  I  do  not 
deny  that  this  movement  may  be  caused  by  distant  winds, 

1636,  tliey  are  called  Aweatsiwaenrrhonons,  which,  as  tlie  termination  shows 
was  their  name  among  the  Hurons.  Charlevoix,  on  what  ground  I  know  not^ 
calls  them  Otchagras.  As  Marquette  justly  remarks,  their  name  signified  salt, 
rather  than  Fetid,  and  they  are  undoubtedly  the  Gens  de  mer  discovered  by  the 
adventurous  Nicolet  three  hundred  leagues  west  of  the  Hurons,  several  years 
prior  to  his  death,  in  1642. — Ret.  1642-'43,  p.  8.  Indeed,  the  dislike  of  the  In- 
dians to  salt  was  so  great,  that  they  confounded  the  two  terms.  When  Father 
Le  Moyne  visited  Onondaga,  he  heard  of  a  spring  in  which  there  was  a  devil 
that  made  it  fetid ;  it  was,  in  fact,  a  salt  spring.  So  too  the  accounts  of  the 
death  of  the  heroic  missionaries  Brebeuf  and  Lalemant  shows  that  the  Iro- 
quois detected  in  the  flesh  of  the  latter,  who  had  recently  left  European  food, 
traces  of  salt  whicl.  '!<ey  disliked,  and  they  showed  their  disgust  in  the  additional 
torture  they  inflict(  i.  All  tliis  establishes  the  identity  of  the  terms  fetid  and 
salt,  and  confirms  what  is  stated  in  the  Relation  of  1653-64,  and  by  Bressani  in 
his  Breve  Relatione,  that  the  Winnebagoes  were  so  called,  because  they  came 
from  the  fetid  water  or  ocean,  which  was  then  said  to  be  nine  days'  journey  to 
tlie  west.  In  point  of  fact,  the  Winnebagoes  are  a  branch  of  the  Dahcota  family, 
which  advancing  further  east  than  the  rest,  became  cut  off  from  them  and  sur- 
rounded by  Algonquins.  Hence,  the  very  name  comes  in  to  confirm  the  philo- 
logical researches  which  connect  them  with  the  Tartars.  The  bay  called 
formerly  Baie  des  Puants,  or  La  Orande  Bale,  has  now  become  Oreen  Bay,  and 
the  town  of  that  name  is  near  the  site  of  the  old  mission  of  St  Francis  Xavier, 
founded  in  1670. 


'■f:  Mi 


fllP!|'t""lliJ|lf 


i:¥H:\ 


/".j 


iii> 


mm 
mm 


!!!!ili|jMi!^H! 
i|iiii;l|i"""|iH|| 


f&  ||Hllll|J'||illli 


l!:il!!l 


^l|i!il 


liiii  I  ll!'lllK  I.I  I 


'till 


12 


KABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  HARQUETTB. 


which  pressing  on  the  centre  of  the  lake,  make  it  rise  and  fall 
on  the  shore  in  the  way  that  meets  our  eyes.* 

We  left  this  bay  to  enter  a  riverf  emptying  into  it.  It  is 
very  beautiful  at  its  month,  and  flows  gently ;  it  is  full  of 
bustards,  duck,  teal,  and  other  birds,  attracted  by  the  wild 
oats  of  which  they  are  very  fond ;  but  when  you  have  ad- 
vanced a  little  up  this  river,  it  becomes  very  difficult,  both 
on  account  of  the  currents  and  .of  the  sharp  rocks  which  cut 
the  canoes  and  the  feet  of  those  who  are  obliged  to  drag 
them,  especially  when  the  water  is  low.  For  all  that  we 
passed  the  rapids  safely,  and  as  we  approached  Machkoutens, 
the  Fire  nation,  I  had  the  curiosity  to  drink  the  mineral 
waters  of  the  river  which  is  not  far  from  this  town.  I  also 
took  time  to  examine  an  herb,  the  virtue  of  which  an  Indian, 
who  possessed  the  secret,  had,  with  many  ceremonies,  made 
known  to  Father  Alloues.  Its  root  is  useful  against  the 
bite  of  serpents,  the  Almighty  having  been  pleased  to  give 
this  remedy  against  a  poison  very  common  in  the  country. 
It  is  very  hot,  and  has  the  taste  of  ]X)wder  when  crushed  be- 
tween the  teeth.  It  must  be  chewed  and  put  on  the  bite 
of  the  8ei*pent.  Snakes  have  such  an  antipathy  to  it,  that 
they  fly  from  one  rubbed  with  it.  It  produces  several  stalks 
about  a  foot  long,  with  pretty  long  leaves,  and  a  white 
flower,  much  like  the  gillyflower.^     I  pnt  some  into  my 

*  The  last  opinion  now  prevails,  and  the  tides  of  the  lake  which  have  been  so 
much  discussed,  are  now  ascribed  to  the  action  of  the  winds,  although  Cliarle- 
Toix  supposed  it  was  owing  to  the  springs  at  the  bottom  of  the  lakes,  and  to  the 
ehock  of  their  currents,  with  those  of  the  rivers,  which  fall  into  them  from  all 
•ides,  and  thus  produce  those  intermitting  motions. 

f  The  Fox  river,  of  Green  bay,  is  about  260  miles  in  length.  The  portage 
between  the  head  waters  of  this  river  and  the  Wisconsin  (Meskonsing),  is  over  a 
level  plain,  and  during  high  water,  canoes  frequently  pass  over  the  lowest  parte 
of  the  prairie  from  one  river  to  the  other. — F. 

I  This  plant  is  called  by  the  French  "  Serpent-d-Sonnettes,"  and  is  an  infal* 
lible  remedy  against  the  poison  of  snakes.    The  root  is  commonly  reduced  to  a 


M;,'!;!S 


BISOOyEBIBS  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


13 


rise  and  fall 

ito  it.  It  is 
it  is  full  of 
by  the  wild 
ou  have  ad- 
iflScult,  both 
[S  which  cut 
ged  to  drag 

all  that  we 
lachkontens, 

the  mineral 
town.  I  also 
jh  an  Indian, 
nonies,  made 
I  against  the 
eased  to  give 

the  country, 
n  crushed  be- 
t  on  the  bite 
hy  to  it,  that 

several  stalks 

and  a  white 
ome  into  my 


rhieh  have  been  so       m 
,  although  Chorle- 
e  lakes,  and  to  the      -j.^ 
into  them  from  all 

5th.  The  portage 
(konsing),  is  over  a 
er  the  lowest  parts 

1,"  and  is  an  infal- 
nonly  reduced  to  »      i^ 


canoe  to  examine  it  at  leisure,  while  we  kept  on  our  way  to- 
ward Maskoutens,  where  we  arrived  on  the  7th  of  June.       -? 


SECTION  III. 


DEtCBIPTIOS  OF  THE  VtLLAOE  OF  MASKOUTENS.- WHAT  TRANSPIRED  BE- 
TWEEN THE  FATHER  AND  THE  INDIANS.— THE  FRENCH  BEGIN  TO  ENTER  A 
SEW  AND  UNKNOWN  COUNTRY,  AND  REACH  THE  MISSISIPI. 

Hebe  we  are  then  at  Maskoutens.  This  word  in  Algon- 
quin, may  mean  Fire  nation,*  and  that  is  the  name  given  to 
them.  This  is  the  limit  of  the  discoveries  made  by  the 
French,  for  they  have  not  yet  passed  beyond  it. 

This  town  is  made  up  of  three  nations  gathered  here.  Mi- 
amis,  Maskoutens,  and  Kikabous.  The  first  are  more  civil, 
liberal,  and  better  made;  they  wear  two  long  ear-locks, 
which  give  them  a  good  appearance ;  they  have  the  name  of 
being  warriors  and  seldom  send  out  war  parties  in  vain ;  they 

powder,  which  the  Indians  chew,  or  make  a  poultice  of,  which  prevents  the  poison 
from  taking  effect  It  may  be  taken  in  water  with  the  same  effect  It  has  a 
nauseous  smell,  and  is  always  avoided  by  snakes.  If  two  or  three  drops  are 
put  into  a  snake's  mouth,  it  immediately  dies. — ^F. 

*  Father  Marquette  who  was  a  good  Algonquin  scholar,  does  not  speak  posi- 
tively aa  to  the  meaning  of  Maskoutens^  though  from  hie  use  of  the  common 
interpretation,  he  evidently  favored  it  Charlevoix,  indeed,  treats  this  as  an 
error,  and  says,  that  Mascouteneo  means  a  prairie,  but  on  the  meaning  of  an  In- 
dian name  a  traveller  is  more  apt  to  err  than  one  habituated  to  the  country  and 
its  dialects.  Certain  it  is  that,  from  the  earliest  times,  there  dwelt  on  Lake 
Michigan  a  tribe  known  to  the  Indians  of  Canada  by  the  name  of  Fire  IndiansL 
Their  Huron  name  was  Asistagueronons,  from  asitta  (fire).  They  lay  beyond  the 
Puants,  says  the  early  historian.  Brother  SagaM  (p.  201).  Under  the  same 
name,  Atsistaehronons,  they  are  mentioned  by  lather  Brebeuf  (Rel.  1640-'41, 
p.  48,)  as  the  enemies  of  the  tribes  called  by  the  French  the  Neutral  Nation,  who 
lay  chiefly  north  of  Lake  Erie,  between  Ontario  and  Lake  St  Clair.  Now  as  the 
peninsula  between  Detroit  and  Lake  Michigan  was  not  inhabited  by  any  Indian 
tribe,  the  Assistae  must  have  dwelt  beyond  Lake  Michigan,  in  the  territory 
where  we  afterward  find  a  tribe  called  by  the  Algonquinii^  Maekoutench,  or 
Nation  of  Fire. 


KABBATIYE  OF  FATHER  MABQUETTE. 


!! ;  '-m 


m  'pm 


I 


w 


f  "'|i|i'  ■  '"'■II 


r"'t!ii'''  i:,:.L 


tijl       ''M-iIm' 


H^ 


:  'i  '"I'!  llrilH'i 

'  liliiililill! 

li  liiiii 

•pii  !!  Ill-will 


are  very  docile,  listen  quietly  to  what  you  tell  them,  and 
Bhowed  themselves  so  eager  to  hear  Father  AUouez  when  he 
was  instructing  them,  that  they  gave  him  little  rest,  even  at 
night.  The  Maskoutens  and  Kikabous  are  ruder  and  more 
like  peasants,  compared  to  the  others. 

As  bark  for  cabins  is  rare  in  this  country,  they  use  rushes, 
which  serve  them  for  walls  and  roof,  but  which  are  no  great 
shelter  against  the  wind,  and  still  less  against  the  rain  when 
it  falls  in  torrents.  The  advantage  of  this  kind  of  cabins  is 
that  they  can  roll  them  up,  and  carry  them  easily  where  they 
like  in  hunting-time. 

"When  I  visited  them,  I  was  extremely  consoled  to  see  a 
beautiful  cross  planted  in  the  midst  of  the  town,  adorned 
with  several  white  skins,  red  belts,  bows  and  arrows,  which 
these  good  people  had  offered  to  the  Great  Manitou  (such  is 
the  name  they  give  to  God)  to  thank  him  for  having  had 
pity  on  them  during  the  winter,  giving  them  plenty  of  game 
when  they  were  in  greatest  dread  of  famine. 

I  felt  no  little  pleasure  in  beholding  the  position  of  this 
town ;  the  view  is  beautiful  and  very  picturesque,  for  from 
the  eminence  on  which,  it  is  perched,  the  eye  discovers  on 
every  side  prairies  spreading  away  beyond  its  reach,  inter- 
spersed with  thickets  or  groves  of  lofty  trees.*  The  soil  is 
very  [^'ood,  producing  much  com;  the  Indians  gather  also 
quantities  of  plums  and  grapes,  from  which  good  wine  could 
be  made,  if  they  chose. 

•  Ko  sooner  had  we  arrived  that  M.  Jollyet  and  I  assembled  the 
sachems ;  he  told  them  that  he  was  sent  by  our  governor  to  dis- 
cover new  countries,  and  I,  by  the  Almighty,  to  illumine  them 
with  the  light  of  the  gospel  ;f  that  the  Sovereign  Master  of  our 

*  This  narrative  abounds  with  sketches  of  scenery  and  Indian  localities  that 
wonid  grace  the  artist's  pencil. — ^F. 
f  The  missionaries  were  careful  to  avoid  all  appearance  of  a  worldly  or  na- 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


18 


e  of  B  worldly  or  na- 


lives  wished  to  be  known  by  all  nations,  and  that  to  obey  his 
will,  I  did  not  fear  death,  to  which  I  exposed  myself  in  such 
dangerous  voyages ;  that  we  needed  two  guides  to  put  us  on 
our  way,  these,  making  them  a  present,  we  begged  them  to 
grant  us.  This  they  did  very  civilly,  and  even  proceeded  to 
speak  to  us  by  a  present,  which  was  a  mat  to  serve  us  as  a 
bed  on  our  voyage. 

The  next  day,  which  was  the  tenth  of  June,  two  Miamis 
whom  they  had  given  us  as  guides,  embarked  with  us,  in  the 
sight  of  a  great  crowd,  who  could  wonder  enough  to  see 
seven  Frenchmen  alone  in  two  canoes,  dare  to  undertake  so 
strange  and  so  hazardous  an  expedition. 

"VVe  knew  that  there  was,  three  leagues  from  Maskoutens,  a 
river  emptying  into  the*  Missisipi ;  we  knew  too,  that  the  point 
of  the  compass  we  were  to  hold  to  reach  it,  was  the  west-south- 
west ;  but  the  way  is  so  cut  up  by  marshes  and  little  lakes, 
.that  it  is  easy  to  go  astray,  especially  as  the  river  leading 
ho  it  is  so  covered  with  wild  oats,  that  you  can  hardly  discover 
fthe  channel.  Hence,  we  had  good  need  of  our  two  guides, 
who  led  us  safely  to  a  portage  of  twenty-seven  hundred  paces, 
and  helped  us  to  transport  our  canoes  to  enter  this  river, 
after  which  they  returned,  leaving  us  alone  in  an  unknown 
country,  in  the  hands  of  Providence. 

"We  now  leave  the  waters  which  flow  to  Quebec,  a  distance 

of  four  or  five  hundred  leagues,  to  follow  those  which  will 

I  henceforth  lead  us  into  strange  lands.    Before  embarking,  we 

I  all  began  together  a  new  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Im- 

I  maculate,  which  we  practised  every  day,  addressing  her  par- 

[tional  mission.  Most  of  those  in  our  northern  parts  were  French;  but  though 
Ithey  planted  the  cross  on  many  a  mountain  and  valley,  history  can  not  tell  us 
|ihe  place  where  they  carved  the  "Lilies  of  the  Bourbons."  In  fact,  they  never 
fdid. 

*  Father  Marquette,  however,  never  uses  the  article  with  Missisipi,  Fekita- 
Inoai,  and  other  names  of  rivers. 


if 


,ii-Pir 


lllirn 


jM  ' 


'!iii^' i, 

i,."M,ii|,  i|  ,i.'M 
1  ■ '  i'!"'iii,i  .(11111) 

Willi  '■'■'■' 


|!lll|lj|l^'.i,,|:BH.i.i 

iii||j!|iiiiiiii|iiiii 

m  i'iiiiiliipiii 

ii'^i;'' !!":■;:' J  I'll:; 


16 


NABRATTVE  OF  FATHEB  UABQUETTB. 


ticular  prayers  to  put  under  her  protection  both  our  persons 
and  the  success  of  our  voyage.  Then  after  having  en- 
couraged one  another,  we  got  into  our  canoes.  The  river  on 
which  we  embarked  is  called  M eskonsing ;  it  is  very  broad, 
with  a  sandy  bottom,  forming  many  shallows,  which  render 
navigation  very  difiScnlt.  It  is  full  of  vine-clad  islets.  On  the 
banks  appear  fertile  lands  divereified  with  wood,  prairie,  and 
hill.  Here  you  find  oaks,  walnut,  whitewood,  and  another 
kind  of  tree  with  branches  armed  with  long  thorns.  We  saw 
no  small  game  or  fish,  but  deer  and  moose''^  in  considerable 
numbers. 

Our  route  was  southwest,  and  after  sailing  about  thirty 
leagues,  we  perceived  a  place  which  had  all  the  appearances 
of  an  iron  mine,  and  in  fact,  one  of  our  party  who  had  seen 
some  before,  averred  that  the  one  we  had  found  was  very 
good  and  very  rich.  It  is  covered  with  three  feet  of  good 
earth,  very  near  a  chain  of  rock,  whose  base  is  covered  with 
fine  timber.  After  forty  leagues  on  this  same  route,  we 
reached  the  mouth  of  our  river,  and  finding  ourselves  at  42^° 
N.,  we  safely  entered  the  Missisipif  on  the  17th  of  June,  with 
a  joy  that  I  can  not  express. 

*  The  French  word  here  is  vachea,  which  has  been  generally  translated  bison,  or 
buifalo.  This  is  clearly  a  mistake ;  they  had  not  yet  reached  the  buffalo  ground 
and  the  missionary  afterward  describes  the  animal  when  he  meets  it  The 
animal  called  by  the  Canadian  French,  vache  aauvage,  was  the  American  elk,  or 
moose.— i2«/.  ICSB-'ST.  Boucher,  Hist.  Nat.  Canada. — Nat.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  Art. 
"Moose."  Boucher  expressly  states^  that  buffaloes  were  found  only  in  the 
Ottawa  country,  that  is,  in  the  far  west,  while  the  vache  sauvage,  at  orignal,  and 
ane  sauvage,  or  caribou,  were  seen  in  Canada. 

f  Tliis  latitude  is  nearly  correct  Prairie  du  Chien  is  in  north  latitude  48"  S'. 
The  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  or,  as  he  writes  it,  Meskousing,  is  distant  one 
hundred  and  eighty  miles  from  the  portage.  Above  this  it  can  be  ascended  ninety 
utiles^  and  is  then  connected  by  short  portages  with  the  Onttmagon  and  Mon- 
treal rivers  of  Lake  Superior.  The  Wisconsin  country  was  subsequently  in- 
habited by  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  but  they  were  afterward  driven  away  by  the 
Chippewaya  and  French. — ^F. 


"■m 


I'f- 

ii».i 


BISOOVEBIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


17 


1. 


SECTION  IV. 

OF  THE  OREAT  JtlVER  CALLED  MISSISIPI.—JTS  MOST  STRIKIIfO  PECVLIARt. 
TtEa.^  VARIOUS  ANIMALS,  AND  PARTICULARLY  THE  PISIKIOUS  OR  WILD 
CATTLE.-THBIR  FORM  AND  DISPOSITtONr-THB  FIRST  ILINOIS  VILLAOES 
REACHED  BY  THE  FRENCH. 

Here  then  we  are  on  this  renowned  river,  of  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  remark  attentively  all  the  peculiarities. 
The  Missisipi  river  has  its  source  in  several  lakes*  in  the 
country  of  the  nations  to  the  north ;  it  is  narrow  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Miskousing;  its  current,  which  runs  south,  is  slow  and 
gentle ;  on  the  right  is  a  considerable  chain  of  very  high  mount- 
ains, and  on  the  left  fine  lands ;  it  is  in  many  places  studded 
with  islands.  On  sounding,  we  have  found  ten  fathoms  of 
water.  Its  breadth  is  very  unequal:  it  is  sometimes  three 
quarters  of  a  league,  and  sometimes  narrows  in  to  three  arpenta 
(220  yards).  "We  gently  follow  its  course,  which  bears  south 
and  southeast  till  the  forty-second  degree.  Here  we  perceive 
that  the  whole  face  is  changed ;  ther  >  vow  almost  no  wood 
or  mountain,  the  islands  are  more  beau:  '.ful  and  covered  with 
finer  trees ;  we  see  nothing  but  deer  and  moose,  bustards  and 
wingless  swans,  for  they  shed  their  plumes  in  this  country. 
From  time  to  time  we  meet  monstrous  fish,  one  of  which 
struck  so  violently  against  our  canoe,  that  I  took  it  for  a  large 
tree  about  to  knock  us  to  pieces.f  Another  time  we  per- 
ceived on  the  water  a  monster  with  the  head  of  a  tiger,  a 
pointed  snout  like  a  wild-cat's,  a  beard  and  ears  erect,  a 

•  It  would  appear  from  this  remark,  that  the  source  of  the  Mississippi  river 
•which  is  now  ascertained  to  be  in  Itasca  lake,  and  more  than  three  thousand 
miles  from  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  was  then  perfectly  well-known  to  the  north- 
western tribes. — ^F. 

f  This  wos  probably  the  cat  fish  of  the  Mississippi  {Silurus  Mississippiensit). 
They  sometimes  grow  enormously  large,  and  strike  with  great  force  any  object 
that  comes  in  their  way.  •— F. 

2 


'■";i;:ll5ll'li 


liiijiiii  ■"''■' 

■'■•  I     ,ii#ii:iii 

L'|l|ll||,       !•'■ ""'I 

m 


f 


lIlLlli),        .   MM,„1  l!;,,,,,; 


ii'Mlllll 


M'Uh     i^  iiiiiy'jjiiiiiin 
iHlllillipnl! 


i-iiife.)' 


%m    " ' 


If 


i.,:i,r iii; 


lilil' 


r 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQUBTTB. 

grayish  head  and  neck  all  black.^  Wo  saw  no  more  of  them. 
On  casting  our  nets,  we  have  taken  sturgeon  and  a  very  extra- 
ordinary kind  of  fish  ;t  it  resembles  a  trout  with  this  differ- 
ence, that  it  has  a  larger  mouth,  but  smaller  eyes  and  snout. 
Near  the  latter  is  a  large  bone,  like  a  woman's  busk,  three 
fingers  wide,  and  a  cubit  long ;  the  end  is  circular  and  as 
wide  as  the  hand.  In  leaping  out  of  the  water  the  weight  of 
this  often  throws  it  back. 

Having  descended  as  far  as  41°  28',  following  the  same 
direction,  we  find  that  turkeys  have  taken  the  place  of  game, 
and  the  pisikious,:]:  or  wild  cattle,  that  of  other  beasts.    We 

♦  Probably  an  American  tiger-cat,  the  "pickou  du  tttd"  of  Kalm.    They  differ 
from  those  of  Africa  and  South  America,  because  they  have  no  spots. — F. 

f  The  "polyodon  ipattUa"  of  Linn.  It  is  now  very  rare,  and  but  seldom  found 
in  the  Mississippi.    It  is  also  called  by  the  French,  "le  »patule." — F. 

\  This  animal  was  first  made  known  by  Coronado's  expedition  to  Cibola,  in 
1640.  That  commander  proceeded  as  far  as  the  Rio  Grande  from  the  gulf  of 
California,  in  search  of  the  realms  of  Quivirn.  His  greatest  discovery  was  tlint 
of  the  bi»on  plains,  and  this  peculiarly  American  animal.  From  the  first  object 
of  his  expedition  Cibola,  a  town  on  the  Gilo,  the  animal  received  among  Span- 
ish writers  the  same  name.  Boucher,  in  his  natural  history  of  Canada,  calls  it 
the  buffalo,  and  Father  Marquette,  who  was  the  first  Frenchman  to  reach  the 
bison  range,  gives  here  its  Indian  name  pisikiou,  but  I  do  not  find  that  the  name 
was  ever  adopted.  The  term  wild-cnttle,  bmifg  Muvaget,  was  generally  used 
by  the  French,  as  buffalo,  was  later  by  the  English  settlers,  till  the  term  bison, 
used  by  Pliny,  was  applied  exclusively  to  this  species.  The  buffalo  has  a  clumsy 
gait  like  the  domestic  ox.  Unlike  the  ox,  however,  it  exhibits  no  diversity  of 
color,  being  a  uniform  dark  brown,  inclining  to  dun.  It  is  never  spotted  with 
black,  red,  or  white.  It  has  short,  black  horns,  growing  nearly  straight  from 
the  head,  and  set  at  a  considerable  distance  apart  The  male  has  a  hunch  upon 
its  shoulders  covered  with  long  flocks  of  shoggy  hair,  extending  to  the  top  of  the 
head  from  which  it  falls  over  the  eyes  and  horns,  giving  him  a  very  formida- 
ble appearance.  Tlie  hoofs  are  cloven  like  those  of  the  cow.  The  tail  is  naked, 
toward  the  end,  where  it  is  tufted,  in  the  manner  of  the  lion.  Tlie  Indians  employ 
both  the  rifle  and  the  arrow  to  hunt  it,  and  in  the  prairies  of  Missouri  and  Arkan- 
sas, they  pursue  them  on  horseback ;  but  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  where  they  are 
destitute  of  horses,  they  make  use  of  several  ingenious  strati^ems.  One  of  the 
most  common  of  these,  is  the  method  of  hunting  them  with  fire.  The  buffaloes 
have  a  great  dread  of  fire,  and  retire  toward  the  centre  of  the  prairie  as  they  see  it 
approach,  then  being  pressed  together  in  great  numbers,  the  Indians  rush  in 
with  their  arrows  and  musketry,  and  slaughter  immense  numbers  in  a  fev 


hi 

0| 


ol 

Pi 


^'  ol 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


* 


ff, 


lore  of  them, 
a  very  extra- 
ti  this  differ- 
38  and  snout. 
8  husk,  three 
cular  and  as 
the  weight  of 

jving  the  same 
jlace  of  game, 
ir  heasts.    We 


Kalm.   They  differ 
[10  spots. — ^F. 
id  but  seldom  found 
ie."— F. 

sdition  to  Cibola,  in 
lo  from  the  gulf  of 
i  discovery  was  that 
from  the  first  object 
iccived  among  Span- 
y  of  Canada,  calls  it 
ichmnn  to  reach  the 
)t  find  that  the  name 

•was  generally  used 
|9,  till  the  term  bison, 

buffalo  has  a  clumsy 
nbite  no  diversity  of 
is  never  spotted  -with 

nearly  straight  from 
mle  has  a  hunch  upon 
idingtothetopofthe 
;  him  a  very  formida- 
,w.    The  tail  is  naked, 
Tlie  Indians  employ 
of  Missouri  and  Arkan- 
iissippi,  where  they  are 
Tatagems.    One  of  the 
ithfire.    Thebuffalo« 
the  prairie  as  they  see  it 

rs,  tlie  Indians  rush  in 
jnse  numbers  in  a  few 


call  them  wild  cattle,  hecause  they  are  like  our  domestic 
cattle ;  they  are  not  longer,  but  almost  as  big  again,  and  more 
corpulent ;  our  men  having  killed  one,  three  of  us  had  con- 
siderable trouble  in  moving  it.  The  head  is  very  large,  the 
forehead  flat  and  a  foot  and  a  half  broad  between  the  horns, 
which  are  exactly  like  those  of  our  cattle,  except  that  they  are 
black  and  much  larger.  Under  the  neck  there  is  a  kind  of 
large  crop  hanging  down,  and  on  the  back  a  pretty  high 
hump.  The  whole  head,  the  neck,  and  part  of  the  shoulders, 
are  covered  with  a  great  mane  like  a  horse^s ;  it  is  a  crest  a 
foot  long,  which  renders  them  hideous,  and  falling  over  their 
eyes,  prevents  their  seeing  before  them.  The  rest  of  the 
body  is  covered  with  a  coarse  curly  hair  like  the  wool  of  our 
sheep,  but  much  stronger  and  thicker.  It  falls  in  summer, 
and  the  skin  is  then  as  soft  as  velvet.  At  this  time  the  Indians 
employ  the  skins  to  make  beautiful  robes,  which  they  paint 
of  various  colors ;  the  flesh  and  fat  of  the  Pisikious  are  excel- 
lent, and  constitute  the  best  dish  in  banquets.  They  are 
very  fierce,  and  not  a  year  passes  without  their  killing  some 
Indian.  When  attacked,  they  take  a  man  with  their  horns, 
if  they  can,  lift  him  up,  and  then  dash  him  on  the  ground, 
trample  on  him,  and  kill  him.  When  you  fire  at  them  from 
a  distance  with  gun  or  bow,  you  must  throw  yourself  on, 
the  ground  as  soon  as  you  fire,  and  hide  in  the  grass ;  for,  if 
they  perceive  the  one  who  fired,  they  rush  on  him  and  attack 
him.    As  their  feet  are  large  and  rather  short,  they  do  not 

hours.    Few  animals  of  the  American  forest  contribute  more  to  the  comforts 

of  sav^e  life.    The  skin  is  dressed  to  supply  them  with  clothing  and  blankets, 

I  The  tallow  is  an  article  of  commerce.    The  tongue  is  a  delicate  article  of  food. 

I  and  the  flesh,  when  dried  after  their  manner,  serves  them  for  bread  and  meat 

|The  buffalo  is  generally  found  between  ni"  and  49"  north  latitude,  and  west 

I  of  the  Mississippi    South  of  81"»  north  latitude,  the  buffalo  is  not  found ;  but  its 

J  place  is  supplied  in  Mexico  by  the  wild-ox,  without  a  hunch,  which  is  considered 

'Tf,  of  European  origin. 


90 


NARRATIVE   OF   FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


|MI| 


llll' 


'  .HItlH 


ml"  V'""- 


'  iiiiil piiiiiii 


il'!7 


I  ,!:i 


generally  go  very  fast,  except  when  they  are  irritated.  They 
are  scattered  over  the  prairies  like  herds  of  cattle.  I  have 
seen  a  band  of  four  hundred. 

We  advanced  constantly,  but  as  we  did  not  know  where  we 
were  going,  having  already  made  more  than  a  hundred 
leagues  without  having  discovered  anything  but  beasts  and 
birds,  we  kept  well  on  our  guard.  Accordingly  we  make 
only  a  little  fire  on  the  shore  at  night  to  prepare  our  meal, 
and  after  supper  keep  as  far  off  from  it  as  possible,  passing 
the  night  in  our  canoes,  which  we  anchor  in  the  river  pretty 
far  from  the  bank.  Even  this  did  not  prevent  one  of  us  being 
always  as  a  sentinel  for  fear  of  a  surprise. 

Proceeding  south  and  south-southwest,  we  find  ourselves  at 
41°  north ;  then  at  40°  and  some  minutes,  partly  by  southeast 
and  partly  by  southwest,  after  having  advanced  more  than 
sixty  leagues  since  entering  the  river,  without  discovering 
anything. 

At  last,  on  the  26th  of  June,  we  perceived  footprints  of  men 
by  the  water-side,  and  a  beaten  path  entering  a  beautiful 
prairie.  We  stopped  to  examine  it,  and  concluding  that  it 
was  a  path  leading  to  some  Indian  village,  we  resolved  to  go 
and  reconnoitre ;  we  accordingly  left  our  two  canoes  in  charge 
xof  our  people,  cautioning  them  strictly  to  beware  of  a  surprise; 
then  M.  Jollyet  and  I  undertook  this  rather  hazardous  dis- 
covery for  two  single  men,  who  thus  put  themselves  at  the 
discretion  of  an  unknown  and  barbarous  people.  We  followed 
the  little  path  in  silence,  and  having  advanced  about  two 
leagues,  we  discovered  a  village  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
and  two  othere  on  a  hill,  half  a  league  from  the  former.* 

*  These  villages  are  laid  down  on  the  map  on  the  westerly  eide  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  names  of  two  ore  given,  Peouorea  and  Moingwena,  whence  it  ia 
generally  supposed  that  the  river  on  which  they  lay,  is  that  now  called  the  Des- 
moiues.    The  upper  part  of  that  river  still  bears  the  name  Moingonan,  while  the 


rU^'; 


o: 

la 
ra 
a 
M 


DUOOTERneS  IN  THK  MI88I88IPPI  VALLEY. 


21 


Then,  indeed,  we  recommended  ourselves  to  God,  with  all 
our  hearts ;  and,  having  implored  his  help,  we  passed  on  un- 
discovered, and  came  bo  near  that  we  even  heard  the  Indians 
talking.    "We  then  deemed  it  time  to  announce  ourselves,  as 
we  did  by  a  cry,  which  we  raised  with  all  our  strength,  and 
then  halted  without  advancing  any  further.    At  this  cry  the 
Indians  rushed  out  of  their  cabins,  and  having  probably 
recognised  us  as  French,  especially  seeing  a  black  gown,* 
or  at  least  having  no  reason  to  distnist  us,  seeing  we  were  but 
two,  and  had  made  known  our  coming,  they  deputed  four  old 
men  to  come  and  speak  with  us.    Two  carried  tobacco-pipes 
well-adorned,  and  trimmed   with  many  kinds  of  feathers. 
They  marched  slowly,  lifting  their  pipes  toward  the  sun,  as  if 
offering  them  to  him  to  smoke,  but  yet  without  uttering  a 
single  word.    They  were  a  long  time  coming  the  little  way 
from  the  village  to  us.    Having  reached  us  at  last,  they 
stopped  to  consider  us  attentively.    I  now  took  courage,  see- 
ing these  ceremonies,  which  are  used  by  them  only  with 
friends,  and  still  more  on  seeing  them  covered  with  stuffs, 
which  made  me  judge  them  to  be  allies.    I,  therefore,  spoke 
to  them  first,  and  asked  them,  who  they  were;  ''they  an- 
swered that  they  were  Ilinois  and,  in  token  of  peace,  they 
presented  their  pipes  to  smoke.    They  then  invited  us  to  their 
village  where  all  the  tribe  awaited  us  with  impatience.    These 
pipes  for  smoking  are  called  in  the  country  calumetB,f  a  word 
that  is  BO  much  in  use,  that  I  shall  be  obliged  to  employ  it  in 
order  to  be  understood,  as  I  shall  have  to  speak  of  it  frequently. 

latitude  of  the  mouth  seems  to  establish  the  identity.  It  must,  however,  be  ad- 
mitted  that  the  latitude  given  at  that  day  differs  from  ours  generally  from  30'  to 
a  degree,  as  we  see  in  the  case  of  the  Wisconsin  and  Ohio.  This  would  throw 
Hoingwena  somewhat  higher  up. 

*  This  is  the  well-known  Indian  name  for  the  Jesuits. 

f  We  are  probably  indebted  to  Father  Marquette  for  the  addition  to  otir 
language  of  this  word. 


fOh. 


ii'iil!:!!^'- 


Pi 


ii!i!i,;j|ff'"iiii|' 


32  ITABBATIVS  OF  FATHEB  MABQUBTTE. 


SECTION   V. 

BOW  THE  ILHTOia  RBCJBiyHD  THE  FATHER  tlf  THEIR  VILLAOE. 

At  the  door  of  the  cabin  in  which  we  were  to  be  received, 
was  an  old  man  awaiting  us  in  a  very  remarkable  posture ; 
which  is  their  usnal  ceremony  in  receiving  strangere.  This 
man  was  standing,  perfectly  naked,  with  his  hands  stretched 
out  and  raised  toward  the  sun,  as  if  he  wished  to  screen  him- 
self from  its  rays,  which  nevertheless  passed  through  his 
fingers  to  his  face.  When  we  c  lie  near  him,  he  paid  us 
this  compliment :  "  How  beautiful  s  the  sun,  O  Frenchman, 
when  thou  comest  to  visit  us !  All  ur  town  awaits  thee,  and 
thou  shalt  enter  all  our  cabins  in  p  \ce."  He  then  took  us 
into  his,  where  there  was  a  crowd  :'  people,  who  devoured 
us  with  their  eyes,  but  kept  a  prof*  nd  silence.  We  heard, 
however,  these  words  occasionally  .ddressed  to  us :  "  Well 
done,  brothers,  to  visit  us  I" 

As  soon  as  we  had  taken  our  places,  they  showed  us  the 
usual  civility  of  the  country,  which  is  to  present  the  calumet. 
You  must  not  refuse  it,  unless  you  would  pass  for  an  enemy, 
or  at  least  for  being  impolite.  It  is,  however,  enough  to  pre- 
tend to  smoke.  While  all  the  old  men  smoked  after  us  to 
honor  us^  some  came  to  invite  us  on  behalf  of  the  great  sa- 
chem of  all  the  Ilinois  to  proceed  to  his  town,  where  he 
wished  to  hold  a  council  with  us.  We  went  with  a  good 
retinue,  for  all  the  people  who  had  never  seen  a  Frenchman 
among  them  could  not  tire  looking  at  us :  they  threw  them- 
selves on  the  grass  by  the  wayside,  they  ran  ahead,  then 
turned  and  walked  back  to  see  us  again.  AH  this  was  done 
without  noise,  and  with  marks  of  a  great  respect  entertained 
for  us. 


DISOOTEEIES    IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


28 


Having  arrived  at  the  great  sachem's  town,  we  espied  him 
at  his  cabin-door,  between  two  old  men,  all  three  standing 
naked,  with  their  calumet  turned  to  the  sun.  He  harangued 
us  in  few  words,  to  congratulate  us  on  our  arrival,  and  then 
presented  us  his  calumet  and  made  us  smoke ;  at  the  same 
time  we  entered  his  cabin,  where  we  received  all  their  usual 
greetings.  Seeing  all  assembled  and  in  silence,  I  spoke  to 
them  by  four  presents  which  I  made :  by  the  fii-st,  I  said  that 
we  marched  in  peace  to  visit  the  nations  on  the  river  to  the 
sea:  by  the  second,  I  declared  to  them  that  God  their  Crea- 
tor had  pity  on  them,  since,  after  their  having  been  so  long 
ignorant  of  him,  he  wished  to  become  known  to  all  nations ; 
that  I  was  sent  on  his  behalf  with  this  design ;  that  it  was  for 
them  to  acknowledge  and  obey  hirn :  by  the  third,  that  the 
great  chief  of  the  French  informed  them  that  he  spread  peace 
everywhere,  and  had  overcome  the  Iroquois.  Lastly,  by  the 
fourth,  we  begged  them  to  give  us  all  the  information  they 
had  of  the  sea,  and  of  the  nations  through  which  we  should 
have  to  pass  to  reach  it. 

When  I  had  finished  my  speech,  the  sachem  rose,  and  lay- 
ing his  hand  on  the  head  of  a  little  slave,  whom  he  was  about 
to  give  us,  spoke  thus  :  "  I  thank  thee,  Blackgown,  and  thee, 
Frenchman,"  addressing  M.  Jollyet, "  for  taking  so  much  paina 
to  come  and  visit  us ;  never  has  the  earth  been  so  beautiful, 
nor  the  sun  so  bright,  as  to-day ;  never  has  our  river  been  so 
calm,  nor  so  free  from  rocks,  which  your  canoes  have  re- 
moved as  they  passed  ;  never  has  our  tobacco  had  so  fine  a 
flavor,  nor  our  com  appeared  so  beautiful  as  we  behold  it  to- 
day. Here  is  my  son,  that  I  give  thee,  that  thou  mayst  know 
my  heart.  I  pray  thee  to  take  pity  on  me  and  all  my  nation. 
Thou  knowest  the  Great  Spirit  who  has  made  us  all ;  thou 
speakest  to  him  and  hearest  his  word :  ask  him  to  give  me 


'liiJ'i 


ih 


[■:.!^; 


1  t 


(I'hJ 


n"  I 


l"i,. 


f' 


iii'iii 

f 


illM 


i;ii|i{i 


l|iill|| 


li  k'm 

j'""flli!!|lllii!!i 
I      iillllii  V   .lltlllilii,. 

'"If" 


'""ii|i!;'>:!t| 


ii!||;wi!ii 


i! 


ill      -III!'! 


i'ill 


24 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHER   MABQUBTTB. 


life  and  health,  and  come  and  dwell  with  us,  that  we  may 
know  him."  Saying  this,  he  placed  tne  little  slave  near  us 
and  made  us  a  second  present,  an  all-mysterious  calumet, 
which  they  value  more  than  a  slave;  by  this  present  he 
showed  us  his  esteem  for  our  governor,  after  the  account  we 
had  given  of  him;  by  the  third,  ho  begged  us,  on  behalf  of 
his  whole  nation,  not  to  proceed  further,  on  account  of  the 
great  dangera  to  which  we  exposed  ourselves. 

I  replied,  that  I  did  not  fear  death,  and  that  I  esteemed  no 
happiness  greater  than  that  of  losing  my  life  for  the  glory  of 
Him  who  made  all.  But  this  these  poor  people  could  not 
understand. 

The  council  was  followed  by  a  great  feast  which  consisted 
of  four  courses,  which  we  had  to  take  with  all  their  ways ; 
the  first  course  was  a  great  wooden  dish  full  of  sagamity,  that 
is  to  say,  of  Indian  meal  boiled  in  water  and  seasoned  with 
grease.  The  master  of  ceremonies,  with  a  spoonful  of  sa- 
gamity, presented  it  three  or  four  times  to  my  mouth,  as  we 
would  do  with  a  little  child ;  he  did  the  same  to  M.  Jollyet. 
For  the  second  course,  he  brought  in  a  second  dish  contain- 
ing three  fish ;  he  took  some  pains  to  remove  the  bones,  and 
having  blown  upon  it  to  cool  it,  put  it  in  my  mouth,  as  we 
would  food  to  a  bird ;  for  the  third  course,  they  produced  a 
large  dog,*  which  they  had  jnst  killed,  but  learning  that  we 
did  not  eat  it,  it  was  withdrawn.  Finally,  the  fourth  course 
was  a  piece  of  wild  ox,  the  fattest  portions  of  which  were  put 
into  our  mouths.  '^  ' 

After  this  feast  we  had  to  visit  the  whole  village,  which 

*  The  dog  among  all  Indian  tribes  is  more  valued  and  more  esteemed  than 
by  ony  people  of  the  civilized  world.  When  they  are  killed  for  a  feast,  it  is 
considered  a  great  compliment,  and  the  highest  mark  of  friendship.  If  an 
Indian  sees  fit  to  sacrifice  his  faithful  companion  to  give  to  hia  friend,  it  is  to 
remind  him  of  the  solemnity  of  his  professions. — ^F. 


DISC0VEKIE8  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


25 


bat  we  may 
ave  near  us 
lus  calumet, 
present  he 
5  account  we 
on  behalf  of 
icount  of  the 

esteemed  no 

the  glory  of 

)le  could  not 

ich  consisted 
1  their  ways; 
lagamity,  that 
seasoned  with 
)Oonfiil  of  ea- 
mouth,  as  we 
to  M.  JoUyet. 

dish  contain- 
he  bones,  and 

mouth,  as  we 

ly  produced  a 
irning  that  we 

fourth  course 
hich  were  put 

village,  which 

ore  esteemed  than 
ed  for  a  feast,  it  is 
friendship.  If  an 
his  friend,  it  is  to 


consists  of  full  three  hundred  cabins.  "While  we  marched 
through  the  streets,  an  orator  was  constantly  haranguing,  to 
oblige  all  to  see  us  without  being  troublesome;  we  were 
everywhere  presented  with  belts,  garters,  and  other  articles 
made  of  the  hair  of  the  bear  and  wild  cattle,  dyed  red,  yellow, 
and  gray.  These  are  their  rareties ;  but  not  being  of  conse- 
quence, we  did  not  burthen  ourselves  with  them. 

"We  slept  in  the  sachem's  cabin,  and  the  next  day  took 
leave  of  him,  promising  to  pass  back  through  bis  town  in  four 
moons.  He  escorted  us  to  our  canoes  with  nearly  six  hundred 
persons,  who  saw  us  embark,  evincing  in  every  possible  way 
the  pleasure  our  visit  had  given  them.  On  taking  leave,  I 
pewonally  promised  that  I  would  return  the  next  year  to  stay 
with  them,  and  instruct  them.  But  before  leaving  the  Ilinois 
country,  it  will  be  well  to  relate  what  I  remarked  of  their 
customs  and  manners. 


■st^ 


SECTION  VI. 

CHARACTER  OP  THE  ILINOIS.— THEIR  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS.— THEIR  ES. 
TEEM  OP  THE  CALUMET,  OR  TOBACCO-PIPE,  AND  THEIR  DANCE  IN  ITS 
HONOR. 

To  say  Ilinois  is,  in  their  language,  to  say  "  the  men,"  as 
if  other  Indians  compared  to  them  were  mere  beasts.  And 
it  must  be  admitted  that  they  have  an  air  of  humanity*  that 

*  "The  Ilinois,"  as  described  by  Father  Marest  in  a  letter  to  Father  Gei^ 
mon,  from  the  village  "of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Holy  Yii^in,  Cas* 
casquias,  November  9,  1*712,"  "are  much  less  barbarous  than  the  other  Indians. 
Christianity,  and  their  intercourse  with  the  French,  have  by  degrees  somewhat 
civilized  them.  This  is  particularly  remarked  in  our  village,  of  which  the  inhab- 
itants are  almost  all  Christians,  and  has  brought  many  French  to  establish  them- 
selves here,  three  of  whom  we  have  recently  married  to  ninois  women.  These 
<  Indians  are  not  at  all  wanting  in  wit ;  they  are  naturally  curious,  and  are  able 
'  Co  use  raillery  in  a  very  ingenious  way.    Hie  chase  and  war  are  the  sole  oconpa- 


I,('i>!i| 


1  '  ,.-.  i' 


'li  11(1 


ii;  *!,. 


.0 


;'i  .1 


Im 


'""I, 


I.!'; 


i;^(:  !    ! 


;:r  lil 


.,iii!''^:il'i""')ii 


ri 


,i.r.„,|. 


, Il' 

ii''''!flii|ljj||iiiii!i 
lillll'illii 


iiiiiihii 


I       ^'.i'l 


"■""iii-,ii 


26 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  MASQTTETTE. 


we  had  not  remarked  in  the  other  nations  that  we  had  seen 
on  the  way.    The  short  stay  I  made  with  them  did  not  permit 

tions  of  the  men,  while  the  rest  of  the  labor  falls  upon  the  women  and  girls.  They 
are  the  persons  who  prepare  the  ground  for  sowing,  do  the  cooking,  pound  the 
corn,  build  tlie  wigwams,  and  carry  them  on  their  shoulders  in  their  journeys. 
These  wigwams  are  constructed  of  mats  made  of  platted  reeds,  which  they  have 
the  skill  to  sew  together  in  such  a  way  that  the  rain  can  not  penetrate  them 
when  they  are  new.  Besides  these  tilings,  they  occupy  themselves  in  manufac- 
turing articles  from  buffaloes' hair,  and  in  making  bands,  belts,  and  sacks;  for 
the  buffaloes  here  ore  very  different  from  our  cattle  in  Europe.  Besides  having 
a  large  hump  on  the  back  by  tlie  shoulders,  they  are  also  entirely  covered  with 
a  fine  wool,  which  our  Indians  manufacture  instead  of  that  which  they  would 
procure  from  sheep,  if  they  had  them  in  the  country. 

"Tlie  women,  thus  occupied  and  depressed  by  their  daily  toils,  are  more  do- 
cile to  the  truths  of  the  gospel.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case  at  the  lower  eud 
of  the  Missisipi,  where  the  idleness  which  prevails  among  persons  of  that  sex 
gives  opportunity  for  the  most  fearful  disorders,  and  removes  them  entirely  frou 
the  way  of  safety. 

"  It  would  be  difficult  to  say  what  is  the  religion  of  our  Indians.  It  consbts 
entirely  in  some  superstitions  with  which  their  credulity  is  amused.  As  all  their 
knowledge  is  limited  to  an  acquaintance  with  brutes,  and  to  the  necessities  of 
life,  it  is  to  these  things  also  that  all  their  worship  is  confined.  Their  mediclDe- 
men,  who  have  a  little  more  intellect  than  the  rest,  gain  their  respect  by  their 
ability  to  deceive  them.  They  persuade  them  that  they  honor  a  kind  of  spirit 
to  whom  they  give  the  name  of  Manitou,  and  teach  them  that  it  is  this  spirit 
which  governs  all  things,  and  is  master  of  life  and  of  death.  A  bird,  a  buffalo, 
a  bear,  or  rather  the  plumage  of  these  birds,  and  the  skin  of  these  beasts — such 
is  their  manitou.  They  hang  it  up  in  their  wigwams,  and  offer  to  it  sacriiie(j 
of  dogs  and  other  animals. 

"The  braves  carry  their  manitous  in  a  mat,  and  unceasingly  invoke  them  to 
obtain  the  victory  over  their  enemies.  Tlieir  medicine-men  have  in  like  manner 
recourse  to  their  manitous  when  they  compose  their  remedies,  or  when  thej 
attempt  to  cure  the  diseased.  Tliey  accompany  their  invocations  with  chanU 
and  dances,  and  frightful  contortions,  to  induce  the  belief  that  they  are  inspired 
by  their  manitous ;  and  at  the  same  time  they  thus  aggravate  their  diseases,  io 
that  they  often  cause  death.  During  these  different  contortions,  the  medicine' 
man  names  sometimes  one  animal,  and  sometimes  another,  and  at  last  applies 
himself  to  suck  that  part  of  the  body  in  which  the  sick  person  perceives  the  pain 
After  having  done  so  for  some  time,  he  suddenly  raises  himself  and  throws  ou! 
to  him  the  tooth  of  a  bear,  or  of  some  other  animal,  which  he  had  kept  conceaieii 
in  his  mouth.  'Dear  friend,'  he  cries,  'you  will  live.  See  what  it  was  that  wai 
killing  you!'  After  which  he  says,  in  applauding  himself:  'Who  can  resist roj 
manitou?  Is  he  not  the  one  who  is  the  master  of  life!'  If  the  patient  happeni 
to  die,  he  immediately  hos  some  deceit  ready  prepared,  to  ascribe  the  death  tt 
aome  other  cause  which  took  place  after  he  had  left  the  aiok  mas.    But  i(  oi 


wm 


'ill 


DISOOVEBIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  TALLBT. 


27 


it  we  had  seen 
did  not  permit 

len  and  girls.    They 
5  cooking,  pound  the 
rfl  in  their  journeja 
eds, -which  they  ha\c 
1  not  penetrote  thorn 
leroselves  in  manufac 
belts,  and  sacks;  for 
•ope.    Besides  having 
entirely  covered  IS  ilh 
hat  which  they  would 

lily  toils,  are  more  do- 
.  case  at  the  lower  eml 
ng  persons  of  that  sex 
,ves  them  entirely  from 

ur  Indians.    It  consists 
is  amused.    As  all  their 
ad  to  the  necessities  o( 
iflned.    Their  medicine- 
a  their  respect  by  their 
J  honor  a  kind  of  spirit 
>m  that  it  is  this  spirit 
eath.    Abird,abuffaK 
itt  of  these  beasts— sucli 
and  offer  to  it  sacrificej 

ceasingly  invoke  them  to 
men  have  in  like  manner 
.  remedies,  or  when  tfoj 

invocations  with  chant\ 
ief  that  they  are  inspire! 
ggravate  their  diseascM 
contortions,  the  medicin. 
lother.andatlastappV 

person  perceives  the  pma 
,68  himself  and  throws  Off 
lichhehadkeptconceaW 

See  what  it  was  that  ^ai 
mself:  'Who  can  resist m; 
iV  If  the  patient  happen! 
red,  to  ascribe  the  death  t* 

[ttheMckmau.    ButH* 


me  to  acquire  all  the  information  I  would  have  desired.    The 
[following  is  what  I  reraai'ked  in  their  manners. 

ithe  contrary,  he  should  recover  his  health,  it  is  then  that  the  medicine-man  re- 
eives  consideration,  and  is  himself  regarded  as  a  manitou ;  and  after  having 
rell  rewarded  his  labors,  they  procure  the  best  that  the  village  produces  to 
Iregale  him. 

"  The  influence  which  these  kinds  of  jugglers  have  places  a  great  obstacle  in 
lie  way  of  the  conversion  of  the  Indiana  By  embracing  Christianity,  they  ox- 
ose  themselves  to  their  insults  and  violence.  It  is  only  a  month  ago  that  a 
^oung  Christian  girl  experienced  this  treatment.  Holding  a  rosary  in  her  hand, 
lie  was  passing  before  the  wigwam  of  one  of  these  impostors.  He  hod  imagined 
liat  the  sight  of  a  similar  chaplet  had  caused  the  death  of  his  father;  and  be- 
Dg  transported  with  fury,  he  took  his  gun,  and  was  on  the  point  of  firing  at 
liis  poor  neophyte,  when  he  was  arrested  by  some  Indians  who  happened  to  be 
l^resent 

"  I  can  not  tell  you  how  many  times  I  have  received  the  like  insults  from 

bem,  nor  how  many  times  I  should  have  expired  under  their  blows,  had  it  not 

sen  for  the  particular  protection  of  God,  who  has  preserved  me  from  their  fury. 

)n  one  occasion,  among  others,  one  of  them  would  have  split  my  head  with  his 

fttchet,  had  I  not  turned  at  the  very  time  that  his  arm  was  raised  to  strike  me. 

Iiauks  to  God,  our  village  is  now  purged  from  these  impostors.    Tlie  care  which 

have  ourselves  taken  of  the  sick,  the  remedies  we  have  given  them,  and 

liich  have  generally  produced  a  cure,  have  destroyed  the  credit  and  reputation 

these  medicine-men,  and  forced  them  to  go  and  establish  themselves  else- 

liere. 

'  "Tliere  are,  however,  some  among  them  who  are  not  so  entirely  brutal,  and 
|th  whom  we  can  sometimes  talk,  and  endeavor  to  disabuse  them  of  the  vain 
iifidence  they  have  in  their  manitous;  but  it  is  not  ordinarily  with  much  suc- 
A  conversation  which  one  of  our  fathers  liad  with  one  of  these  medicine- 
In  will  enable  you  to  understand  the  extent  of  their  obstinacy  on  this  point, 
also  what  ought  to  be  the  condescension  of  a  missionary  in  attempting  even 
itt  refute  opinions  as  extraordinary  as  those  with  which  they  are  here  met 

**Thc  French  had  established  a  fort  on  the  river  Ouabache:  they  asked  for  a 
miltoionary,  and  Father  Mermet  was  sent  to  them.  This  father  thought  that 
i^i- should  also  labor  for  the  conversion  of  the  Mascoutens,  who  had  formed  n 
lement  on  the  banks  of  the  same  river,  a  tribe  of  Indians  who  understood  the 
language,  but  whose  extreme  attachment  to  the  superstitions  of  their 
licine-men  rendered  them  exceedingly  indisposed  to  listen  to  the  instructions 
lie  missionary. 

lie  course  which  Father  Mermet  took  was,  to  confound  in  their  presence 
I  of  their  medicine-men,  who  worshipped  the  buffalo  as  his  grand  manitou. 
'  having  insensibly  led  him  to  confess  that  it  was  not  by  any  means  the  buf- 
Fhich  he  worshipped,  but  a  manitou  of  the  buffalo,  which  is  under  the  earth 
liich  animates  all  the  buffaloes,  and  which  gives  life  to  their  sick — he  asked 
rhether  the  other  beasts,  as  the  bears,  for  example,  which  his  comrades 
ipped,  were  not  equally  animated  by  a  manitou  which  is  under  the  earth. 


mi. 


li 


NARBATITE  OF  FATHER  MABQUETTB. 


!||l|^!f 


|ii'Dii< 


,  iiriiil  ""I 


They  are  divided  into  several  villages,  some  of  which  are 
quite  distant  from  that  of  which  I  speak,  and  which  is  called 

'Certainly,'  replied  the  medicine-man.  'But  if  this  be  so,'  said  the  missionary, 
'then  men  ought  also  to  have  a  manitou  which  animates  them.' — 'Nothing  can 
be  more  certain,'  said  the  medicine-man.  'That  is  sufficient  for  me,'  replied  the 
missionary,  '  to  convict  you  of  having  but  little  reason  on  your  side ;  for  if  mon 
who  is  on  the  earth  be  the  master  of  all  the  animals — if  he  kills  them,  if  he  eats 
them — then  it  is  necessary  that  the  manitou  which  animates  the  men  should 
also  be  the  master  of  all  the  other  manitous.  Where  is,  then,  your  wisdom,  that 
you  do  not  invoke  him  who  is  the  master  of  all  the  others  I'  This  reasoning 
disconcerted  the  medicine-man,  but  this  was  the  only  effect  which  it  produced, 
for  they  were  not  less  attached  than  before  to  their  ridiculous  superstitions. 

"At  that  same  time  a  contagious  disease  desolated  their  village,  and  each  day 
carried  off  many  of  the  Indians :  the  medicine-men  themselves  were  not  spared, 
and  died  like  the  rest  The  missionary  thought  that  he  would  be  able  to  win 
their  confidence  by  his  attention  to  the  care  of  the  sick,  and  therefore  applied 
himself  to  it  without  intermission ;  but  his  zeal  very  often  came  near  costing  him 
his  life.  The  services  which  he  rendered  to  them  were  repaid  only  by  outrages. 
There  wore  even  some  who  proceeded  to  the  extremity  of  discharging  their  ar- 
rows at  him,  but  they  fell  at  his  feet ;  it  mny  be  that  they  were  fired  by  hands 
which  were  too  feeble,  or  because  God,  who  destined  the  missionary  for  other 
labors,  had  wished  to  withdraw  him  at  that  time  from  their  fury.  Father  Mer 
met,  however,  was  not  deterred  from  conferring  baptism  on  some  of  the  Indians, 
who  requested  it  with  importunity,  and  who  died  a  short  time  ofter  they  had 
received  it 

"  Nevertheless,  their  medicine-men  removed  to  a  short  distance  from  the  fort, 
to  make  a  great  sacrifice  to  their  manitou.  They  killed  nearly  forty  dogs,  which 
they  carried  on  the  tops  of  poles,  singing,  dancing,  and  making  a  thousand  ex- 
travagant gestures.  The  mortality,  however,  did  not  cease,  for  all  their  sacri- 
fioea  The  chief  of  the  medicine-men  then  imagined  that  their  manitou,  being 
less  powerful  than  the  manitou  of  the  French,  was  obliged  to  yield  to  him.  In 
this  persuasion  he  many  times  made  a  circuit  around  the  fort^  crying  out  with 
all  his  strength:  'We  are  dead;  softly,  manitou  of  the  French,  strike  softly— 
do  not  kill  us  all  1'  Then,  addressing  himself  to  the  missionary :  '  Cease,  good 
manitou,  let  us  live;  you  have  life  and  death  in  your  possession:  leave  death— 
give  us  life  I'  The  missionary  calmed  him,  and  promised  to  take  even  more  care 
of  the  sick  than  he  had  hitherto  done ;  but  notwithstanding  all  the  care  he  could 
bestow,  more  than  half  in  the  village  died. 

"To  return  to  our  Ilinois:  they  are  very  different  from  these  Indians,  and  olso 
from  what  they  formerly  were  themselves.  Christianity,  as  I  have  already  said, 
has  softened  their  savage  customs,  and  their  manners  are  now  marked  by  a 
sweetness  and  purity  which  have  induced  some  of  the  French  to  take  their 
daughters  in  marriage.  We  find  in  them,  moreover,  a  docility  and  ardor  for  the 
practice  of  Christian  virtues.  The  following  is  the  order  we  observe  each  day 
in  our  mission:  Early  in  the  morning  we  assemble  the  catechumens  at  the 
church,  where  they  have  prayers,  they  receive  instructions,  and  chant  some  can- 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


S9t 


Peduaroa.  This  produces  a  diversity  in  their  language  which 
in  general  has  a  great  affinity  to  the  Algonquin,  so  that  wo 

tides.  When  they  have  retired,  moss  is  said,  at  which  oil  the  Christians  assist, 
the  men  placed  on  one  side  and  the  women  on  the  other;  then  they  have  pray- 
ers, which  are  followed  by  giving  them  a  homily,  after  which  each  one  guus  to  his 
labor.  We  then  spend  our  time  in  viajting  the  sick,  to  give  them  the  necessory 
remedies,  to  instruct  them,  and  to  console  those  who  are  laboring  under  any 
affliction. 

"After  noon  the  catechising  is  held,  at  which  all  are  present.  Christians  and 
catechumens,  men  and  children,  young  and  old,  and  where  each,  without  dis- 
tinction of  rank  or  age,  answers  the  questions  put  by  the  missionary.  As  these 
people  have  no  books,  and  are  naturally  indolent,  they  would  shortly  forget  the 
principles  of  religion  if  the  remembrance  of  them  was  not  recalled  by  these 
almost  continual  instructions.  Our  visits  to  their  wigwams  occupy  the  rest  of 
the  day. 

"In  the  evening,  all  assemble  again  at  the  church,  to  listen  to  the  instructions 
which  are  given,  to  say  prayers,  and  to  sing  some  hymns.  On  Sundays  and 
festivals  we  add  to  the  ordinary  e.\orcises,  instructions  which  are  given  after 
the  vespers.  The  zeal  with  which  these  good  neophytes  repair  to  the  church  at 
all  such  hours  is  admirable :  they  break  off  from  their  labors,  and  rim  from  a 
great  distance^  to  be  there  at  the  appointed  time.  They  generally  end  the  day 
by  private  meetings  which  they  hold  at  their  own  residences,  the  men  separately 
from  the  women,  and  there  they  recite  the  rosary  in  alternate  choirs,  and 
chant  the  hymns,  until  the  night  is  far  advanced.  These  hymns  are  their  best 
instructions,  which  they  retain  the  more  easily,  since  the  words  ore  set  to  airs 
with  which  they  are  acquainted,  and  which  please  them. 

"lliey  often  approach  the  sacraments,  and  the  custom  among  them  is  to  con- 
fess and  to  communicate  once  in  a  fortnight  We  have  been  obliged  to  appoint 
particular  days  on  which  they  shoU  confess,  or  they  would  not  leave  us  leisure 
to  discharge  our  other  duties.  These  are  the  Fridays  and  Sundays  of  each  week, 
when  we  hear  them,  and  on  these  days  we  are  overwhelmed  with  n  crowd  of 
penitents.  The  core  which  we  take  of  the  sick  goins  us  their  confidence,  and  it 
is  particulorly  at  such  times  that  we  reap  the  fruits  of  our  labors.  Their  docility 
is  then  perfect,  and  we  have  generally  the  consolation  of  seeing  them  die  ia 
great  peace,  and  with  the  firm  hope  of  being  shortly  united  to  God  in  heaven. 

"This  mission  owes  its  establishment  to  the  late  Father  Gravier.  Father 
Marquette  was,  in  truth,  the  first  who  discovered  the  Missisipi,  about  thirty-nine 
years  ago;  but,  not  being  acquainted  with  the  language  of  the  country,  he  did 
not  remain.  Some  time  afterward  he  made  a  second  journey,  with  the  intention 
of  fixing  there  his  residence,  ond  laboring  for  the  conversion  of  these  people; 
but  death,  which  arrested  him  on  the  way,  left  to  another  the  care  of  accom- 
plishing this  enterprise.  This  was  Father  Allouez,  who  chained  himself  with 
it  Ho  was  acquainted  with  the  language  of  the  Oumiamis,  which  approaches 
very  nearly  to  that  of  the  Ilinois.  He,  however,  made  but  a  short  sojourn,  hav- 
ing  the  idea  while  there  that  he  should  be  able  to  accomplish  more  in  a  diflferent 
country,  where  bdeed  he  ended  his  apostolic  life. 


IM 


'T^: 


•'*, 


iiff«^;!; 


'I  Liili'ii 


i;l'5!!l!!ii: 


|j»i.!|l^;&iiiiis 


I  f'^Lip ;;; 


I,    ".IJrl.iii,   .jHI'ltpi 


> 


80 


NARRATIVE  OF   FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


easily  undorskood  ono  another.    They  are  mild  and  tractable 
in  their  disposition,  as  we  experienced  in  the  reception  they 

"Thus  Father  Oravier  is  the  one  who  should  properly  be  regarded  as  the 
founder  of  the  mission  to  tlie  Ilinois.  Ho  first  investigated  the  principles  of  their 
language,  and  reduced  them  to  grammatical  rules,  so  that  we  have  since  only 
been  obliged  to  bring  to  perfection  what  ho  begnn  with  so  great  success.  This 
missionary  had  at  first  much  to  suffer  from  their  medicine-men,  and  his  life  was 
exposed  to  continual  dangers ;  but  nothing  repulsed  him,  and  he  surmounted  all 
these  obstacles  by  his  patience  and  mildness.  Being  obliged  to  depart  to  Mich* 
ilimakinac,  his  mission  was  confided  to  Father  Bineteau  and  Father  Pinet  In 
company  with  these  two  missionaries  I  labored  for  some  time,  and  after  their 
death  remained  in  sole  charge  of  all  the  toilsome  duties  of  the  mission,  until  the 
arrival  of  Father  Mermet.  My  residence  was  formerly  in  the  great  village  of 
the  Peouarias,  where  Father  Gravicr,  who  had  returned  thither  for  the  second 
time,  received  a  wound  which  caused  his  death.  *  *  * 

"  After  having  remained  eight  days  at  the  mission  of  St  Joseph,  I  embarked 
with  my  brother  in  his  canoe,  to  repair  together  to  Michilimakinac.  The  voyage 
was  very  delightful  to  me,  not  only  because  I  had  the  pleasure  of  being  with  a 
brother,  who  is  very  dear,  but  also  because  it  afforded  me  an  opportunity  of 
profiting  for  a  much  longer  time  by  his  conversation  and  example. 

"  It  is,  as  I  have  said,  more  than  a  hundred  leagues  from  the  mission  of  St 
Joseph  to  Michilimakinac.  We  go  the  whole  length  of  Lake  Michigan,  which 
on  the  maps  has  the  name,  without  any  authority,  of  '  the  lake  of  the  Ilinois,' 
since  the  Ilinois  do  not  nt  all  dwell  in  its  neighborhood.  The  stormy  weather 
delayed  us,  so  that  our  voyage  took  seventeen  days,  though  it  is  often  accom- 
plished in  less  than  eight 

"  Michilimakinac  is  situated  between  two  great  lakes,  into  which  other  lakes 
and  many  rivers  empty.  Therefore  it  is  that  this  village  is  the  ordinary  resort 
of  the  French,  the  Indians,  and  almost  all  those  engaged  in  the  fur-trade  of  the 
country.  The  soil  there  is  far  inferior  to  that  among  the  Ilinois.  During  the 
greater  part  of  the  year  one  sees  nothing  but  fish,  and  the  waters  which  are  so 
agreeable  during  the  summer  render  a  residence  there  dull  and  wearisome  du- 
ring the  winter.  The  earth  is  entirely  covered  with  snow  from  All-Saints'  day 
even  to  the  month  of  May. 

"The  character  of  these  Indians  partakes  of  that  of  the  climate  under  which 
ihey  live.  It  is  harsh  and  indocile.  Religion  among  them  does  not  take  deep 
root,  as  should  be  desired,  and  there  are  but  few  souls  who  from  time  to  time 
give  themselves  truly  to  God,  and  console  the  missionary  for  all  his  pains.  For 
myself,  I  could  not  but  admire  the  patience  with  which  my  brother  endured 
their  failings,  his  sweetness  under  the  trial  of  their  caprices  and  their  coarseness, 
his  diligence  in  visiting  them,  in  teaching  them,  in  arousing  them  from  their  in- 
dolence for  the  exercises  of  religion,  his  zeal  and  his  love,  capable  of  inflaming 
their  hearts,  if  they  had  been  less  hard  and  more  tractable ;  and  I  said  to  myself 
that  'success  is  not  always  the  recompense  of  the  toils  of  apostolic  men,  nor  the 
meaaure  of  their  merit' 

"Having  finished  all  our  business  during  the  two  months  that  I  remained  with 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 


at  I  remained  vith 


gave  us.  They  have  many  wives,  of  whom  they  are  ex- 
tremely jealous ;  they  watch  them  carefully,  and  cut  off  their 

my  brother,  it  become  necesgnry  for  us  to  separate.  As  it  was  God  who  ordered 
this  separation,  he  knew  how  to  soften  all  its  bitterness.  I  departed  to  rejoin 
Father  Chordon,  with  whom  I  renioined  fifteen  days.  He  is  a  missionary  full  of 
seal,  and  who  has  a  rare  talent  for  acquiring  languages.  Ho  is  acquainted  with 
almost  all  those  of  the  Indians  who  are  on  these  lakes,  and  has  even  learned 
that  of  the  Ilinois  sufficiently  to  make  himself  understood,  altliough  he  has  only 
seen  some  of  those  Indians  accidentally,  when  they  came  to  his  village;  for  the 
Pouteautamis  and  the  Ilinois  live  in  terms  of  friendship,  and  visit  each  other 
from  time  to  time.  Their  manners,  however,  ore  very  different:  those  are  brutal 
and  gross,  while  these,  on  the  contrary,  are  mild  and  affable. 

"After  hiving  token  leave  of  the  missionary,  we  ascended  the  river  St  Joseph 
to  where  ic  was  necessary  to  moke  a  portage,  about  thirty  leagues  from  its  mouth. 
The  canoes  which  are  used  for  navigation  in  this  country  are  only  of  bark,  and 
very  light,  although  they  carry  as  much  as  a  large  boat  When  the  canoe  has 
carried  us  for  a  long  time  on  the  water,  we  in  our  turn  carry  it  on  the  land, 
over  to  another  river ;  and  it  was  thus  that  we  did  in  this  place.  We  first  trans- 
ported all  there  was  in  the  canoe  toward  the  source  of  the  river  of  the  Ilinois, 
which  tiiey  call  Ilaukiki ;  then  we  carried  thither  our  canoe,  and  after  having 
launched  it:,  we  embarked  there  to  continue  our  route.  We  were  but  two  days 
making  this  portage,  which  is  one  and  a  half  leagues  in  length.  The  abundant 
rains  which  had  fallen  during  this  season  had  swelled  our  little  rivers,  and  freed 
us  from  the  currents  which  we  feared.  At  last  we  perceived  our  own  agreea- 
ble country,  the  wild  buffaloes  and  herds  of  stags  wandering  on  the  borders 
of  the  river;  and  those  who  were  in  the  canoe  took  some  of  them  from  time 
to  time,  which  served  for  our  food. 

"At  the  distance  of  some  leagues  from  the  village  of  the  Peouarios,  many  of 
these  Indians  came  to  meet  me,  to  form  an  escort  to  defend  me  from  hostile  par- 
ties of  warriors  who  might  be  roaming  through  the  forest ;  and  when  I  ap- 
proached the  village,  they  sent  forward  one  of  their  number  to  give  notice  of 
my  arrival.  The  greater  part  ascended  to  the  fort,  which  is  situated  on  a  rock 
on  the  banks  of  the  river,  and,  when  I  entered  the  village,  made  a  general  dis- 
charge of  their  guns  in  sign  of  rejoicing.  Their  joy  was,  indeed,  pictured  plainly 
on  their  countenances,  and  shone  forth  in  my  presence.  I  was  invited,  with  the 
French  and  the  Ilinois  chiefs,  to  a  feast  which  was  given  to  us  by  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  the  Peouarios.  It  was  there  that  one  of  the  principal  chiefs  ad- 
dressed me  in  the  name  of  the  nation,  testifying  to  me  the  deep  grief  they  felt 
at  the  unworthy  nionner  in  which  they  hod  treated  Father  Gravier,  and  conjured 
me  to  forget  it,  to  hove  pity  on  them  and  their  children,  and  to  open  to  them 
the  gate  of  heaven,  which  they  had  closed  against  themselves. 

"For  myself,  I  returned  thanks  to  God,  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  that  I 
thus  saw  that  accomplished  which  I  had  desired  with  the  utmost  ardor.  I  an- 
swered them,  in  a  few  words,  that  I  was  touched  with  their  repentance;  that  I 
always  regarded  them  as  my  children ;  and  that  after  having  made  a  short  ex- 
eursion  to  my  mission,  I  should  come  to  fix  my  residence  in  the  midst  of  them, 


ffS^f'^ 


88: 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


'!'•   il  I 


K, 


ij«..^ ' 


t'iil 


"ii'^lr 


mm 


''"■  felill'tlPi 


f«ll|;||««WlllH., 


H 
^ 


nose  or  ears  when  they  do  not  behave  well ;  I  saw  several  who 
bore  tiic?  'nr.rks  of  their  infidelity.  They  are  well-formed,  nim- 
ble, and  very  adroit  in  using  the  bow  and  arrow ;  they  use  guns 
also,  which  they  buy  of  our  Indian  allies  who  trade  with  the 
French  ;  they  use  them  especially  to  terrify  their  enemies  by 
the  noise  and  smoke,  the  others  lying  too  far  to  the  west,  have 
never  seen  them,  and  do  not  know  their  use.  They  are  war- 
like and  formidable  to  distant  nations  in  the  south  and  west, 
where  they  go  to  carry  off  slaves,  whom  they  make  an  article 
of  trade,  selling  them  at  a  high  price  to  other  nations  for 
goods.* 

The  distant  nations  against  whom  they  go  to  war,  have  no 
knowledge  of  Europeans ;  they  are  acquainted  with  neither 

to  aid  them  by  my  instructionB  to  return  into  the  wny  of  snlvation,  from  which 
they  had  perhnps  wandered.  At  these  words  the  chief  uttered  a  loud  cry  of  joy, 
and  each  one  with  emulation  testified  his  gratitude.  During  two  days  that  I 
remained  in  the  village,  I  said  mass  in  public,  and  discharged  all  the  duties  of  a 
missionary. 

"  It  was  toward  the  end  of  August  that  I  embarked  to  return  to  my  mission 
of  the  Coscnsquias,  distant  a  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  from  the  village  of  the 
Peouarias.  During  the  first  day  of  our  departure,  wo  found  a  canoe  of  the 
Scioux,  broken  in  some  places,  which  had  drifted  away,  and  we  saw  an  encamp 
ment  of  their  warriors,  where  we  judged  by  the  view  there  were  at  least  one 
hundred  persons.  We  were  justly  alarmed,  and  on  the  point  of  returning  to 
the  village  we  hnd  left^  from  which  we  were  as  yet  but  ten  leagues'  distance. 

"These  Scioux  are  the  most  cruel  of  all  the  Indians,  and  we  should  have  been 
lost  if  we  had  fallen  into  their  hands.  They  are  great  warriors,  but  it  is  princi- 
pally upon  the  water  that  they  are  formidable.  They  have  only  small  canoes 
of  bark,  made  in  the  form  of  a  gondola,  and  scarcely  larger  than  the  body  of  a 
man,  for  they  can  not  hold  more  than  two  or  three  at  the  most  They  row  on 
their  knees,  managing  the  oar  now  on  one  side  and  now  on  the  other;  that  is, 
giving  three  or  four  strokes  of  the  oar  on  the  right  side,  and  then  as  many  on 
the  left  side,  but  with  so  miich  dexterity  and  swiftness,  that  their  canoes  seem  to 
Hy  on  the  water.  After  having  examined  all  things  with  attention,  we  con- 
cluded that  these  Indians  had  struck  their  intended  blow,  and  were  retiring: 
we,  however,  kept  on  our  guard,  and  advanced  with  great  caution,  that  wo 
might  not  encounter  them.  But  when  we  had  once  gained  the  Missisipi,  we 
sped  on  by  dint  of  rowing.  At  last,  on  the  10th  of  September,  I  arrived  at  my 
dear  mission,  in  perfect  licalth,  after  live  months'  absence." —  Kip's  Jcnuit  Mm. 

*  It  would  appear  from  this  remark,  that  a  traffic  in  Indian  slaves  was  carried 
on  extensively  at  a  very  early  period,  by  the  aborigines  of  North  America. 


DISCOVERIES  m  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


99 


iron  or  copper,  and  Imvo  nothing  but  stone  knives.  "When 
the  Ilinols  set  out  on  a  war  party,  the  whole  vilh\ge  is  noti- 
fied by  a  loud  cry  made  at  the  door  of  their  huts  the  morn- 
ing and  evening  before  they  set  out.  The  chiefs  are  dis- 
tinguished from  the  soldiers  by  their  wearing  a  soarf  *  inge- 
niously made  of  the  hair  of  bears  and  wild  oxen.  The  face 
is  painted  with  red  lead  or  ochre,  which  is  found  in  great 
quantities  a  few  days'  journey  from  their  villagcf  They  live 
by  game,  wliich  is  abundant  in  this  country,  and  on  Indian 
corn,  of  which  they  always  gather  a  good  crop,  so  that  they 
have  never  suifered  by  famine.  They  also  sow  beans  and 
melons,  which  are  excellent,  especially  those  with  a  red  seed. 
Their  squashes  are  not  of  the  best ;  they  dry  them  in  the  sun, 
to  eat  in  the  winter  and  spring. 

Their  cabins  are  very  large ;  they  are  lined  and  floored 
with  rush-mats.  They  make  all  their  dishes  of  wood,  and 
their  spoons  of  the  bones  of  the  buffalo,  which  they  cut  so 
well,  that  it  serves  them  to  eat  their  sagamity  easily. 

They  are  liberal  in  their  maladies,  and  believe  that  the 
medicines  given  them  operate  in  proportion  to  the  presents 
they  have  made  the  medicine-man.    Their  only  clothes  are 

*  Tlie  scarf  or  belt  has  always  formed  a  part  of  the  costume  of  chiefs.  Among 
the  tribes  of  the  west  it  is  generally  made  of  long  Imir  braided  in  Agnres  with 
shells,  beads,  the.  Belts  of  deer  and  buifalo  skins  are  also  worn.  These  belts 
are  worn  over  the  left  shoulder,  and  passed  around  the  waist>  cnditig  in  A 
long  fringe.  In  addition  to  the  scarf,  they  likewise  adorn  themselves  with  arm, 
knee,  and  wrist  bands ;  knee-rattles  made  of  deer-hoofs,  and  arm  thc>msclT«» 
with  the  formidable  bow  and  arrow,  war-club,  and  scalping-knifo. — P. 

\  The  custom  of  painting  their  bodies  is  characteristic  of  all  savage  tribes.  The 
native  Britons,  Germans,  and  Scandinavians,  formerly  pmotised  it.  Tlic  savage 
tribes  of  North  and  South  America  continue  the  custom  to  the  present  day,  with 
a  view  of  rendering  themselves  more  attractive  to  their  friends,  or  more  terrible 
to  their  enemies.  The  substances  usually  employed  are  ochres,  clays,  native 
oxydes  of  iron,  and  other  minerals,  the  production  of  their  country.  Wk^en  they 
go  to  war,  they  paint  themselves  red;  when  they  mourn  for  their  friendis  or  rel- 
atives, with  black ;  at  other  times  they  cover  their  face  and  body  with  a  variely 
of  fantastic  colors,  which  they  are  very  skilful  in  mixing. — ^F» 

3 


U)  i' 


llttiil     .!(»* 


v ' ' 


^  »<ll;/ ;; 


I  I'iii'iipiiiiiiiiiili}; 


IP  KARRATIVE  OF  FATIIEB  UARQUETTS. 

skins;  their  women  are  always  dressed  very  modestly  and 
decently,  while  tlie  men  do  not  take  any  pains  to  cover  them- 
selves. Through  what  superstition  I  know  not,  some  Ilinois, 
as  well  as  some  Nadouessi,  while  yet  young,  assume  the  fe- 
male dress,  and  keep  it  all  their  life.  There  is  some  mystery 
about  it,  for  they  never  marry,  and  glory  in  debosing  them- 
selves to  do  all  that  is  done  by  women  :*  yet  they  go  to  wor, 
tliough  allowed  to  use  only  a  club,  and  not  the  bow  and  ar- 
row, the  peculiar  arm  of  men ;  they  are  present  at  all  the 
juggleries  and  solemn  dances  in  honor  of  the  calumet ;  thoy 
are  poi*mitted  to  sing,  but  not  to  dance;  they  attend  the 
councils,  and  nothing  can  be  decided  without  their  advice; 
finally,  by  the  profession  of  an  extraordinary  life,  they  pass 
for  manitous  (that  is,  for  genii),  or  persons  of  consequence. 

It  now  only  remains  for  me  to  speak  of  the  calumet,  than 
which  there  is  nothing  among  them  more  mysterious  or  more 
esteemed.  Men  do  not  pay  to  the  crowns  and  sceptres  of 
kings  the  honor  they  pay  to  it :  it  seems  to  be  the  god  of 
peace  and  war,  the  arbiter  of  life  and  death.  Carry  it  about 
you  and  show  it,  and  you  can  march  fearlessly  amid  enemies, 
who  even  in  the  heat  of  battle  lay  down  their  arms  when  it  is 
shown.  Hence  the  Ilinois  gave  me  one,  to  serve  as  my  safe- 
guard amid  all  the  nations  that  I  had  to  pass  on  my  voyage. 
There  is  a  calumet  for  peace,  and  one  for  war,  distinguished 
only  by  the  color  of  the  feathers  with  which  thoy  are  adorned, 
red  being  the  sign  of  war.  They  use  them  also  for  settling 
disputes,  strengthening  alliances,  and  speaking  to  strangers.f 

*  Otliors  represent  this  onstom  to  have  been  to  satisfy  that  unnatural  lust 
which  dishonored  all  pngnnism,  from  the  vaunted  Trajan  to  the  lowest  savage. 
See  Hennepin's  account  of  this  custom  in  his  "  Voyage  en  un  pays  plus  grand 
que  I'Europe  entre  mer  glaciale,  et  le  Nouveau  Mexique." 

f  The  calumet  of  peace  is  adorned  with  the  feathers  of  the  white  eagle ;  and 
the  bearer  of  it  may  go  everywhere  without  fear,  because  it  is  held  sacred  by  all 
tribea— F. 


VEBIB8  Iir  Tfne  UI88IS8IPPI  TALLKT.  85 

It  is  made  of  a  pulishod  rod  stone,  liko  marble,  so  pierced 
that  one  end  serves  to  bold  the  tobacco,  while  tho  other  is 
ihstened  on  the  stem,  which  is  a  stick  two  feet  long,  as  thick 
as  a  common  cane,  and  pierced  in  tho  middle ;  it  is  orna- 
mented with  the  head  and  neck  of  different  birds  of  beautiful 
plumage ;  they  also  add  large  feathers  of  red,  green,  and 
other  colors,  with  which  it  is  all  covered.  They  esteem  it 
particularly  because  they  regard  it  as  the  calumet  of  the  sun ; 
and,  in  fact,  they  present  it  to  him  to  smoke  when  they  wish 
to  obtain  calm,  or  rain,  or  fair  weather.  They  scruple  to 
bathe  at  the  beginning  of  summer,  or  to  eat  new  fruits,  till 
they  have  danced  it.    They  do  it  thus : — 

The  calurnet  dance^  which  is  \evy  famous  among  these 
Indians,  is  performed  only  for  important  matters,  sometimes 
to  strengthen  a  peace  or  to  assemble  for  some  great  war ;  at 
other  times  for  a  public  rejoicing;  sometimes  they  do  this 
honor  to  a  nation  who  is  invited  to  be  present;  sometimes 
they  use  it  to  receive  some  important  personage,  as  if  they 
wished  to  give  him  the  entertainment  of  a  ball  or  comedy. 
In  winter  the  ceremony  is  peiformed  in  a  cabin,  in  summer 
in  the  open  fields.  They  select  a  place,  surrounded  with 
trees,  so  as  to  be  sheltered  beneath  their  foliage  against  the 
heat  of  the  sun.  In  the  middle  of  the  space  they  spread  out 
a  large  party-colored  mat  of  rushes;  this  serves  as  a  carpet, 
on  which  to  place  with  honor  the  god  of  the  one  who  gives 
the  dance ;  for  every  one  has  his  own  god,  or  manitouf  as 

*  Besides  the  calumet  dance,  these  tribes  have  a  great  variety  of  other  dances, 
wholly  of  their  own  invention.  Twenty-one  of  these  are  still  in  use  among  the 
southwestern  Indians,  to  each  of  which  there  is  a  history  attached ;  and  many 
of  them,  without  doubt,  have  been  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation 
until  thfeir  origin  is  even  lost  in  tradition. — ^F. 

t  Manitou  is  a  word  employed  to  signify  the  tame  thing  by  all  Indians  from 
the  gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  arctic  regions.  In  the  Indian  language  it  signifies' 
"spirit"  They  have  good  and  bad  manitous,  great  and  small  manitous;  a  mani- 
tou for  every  cave,  water-fall,  or  other  commanding  object  in  nature^  and  gene- 


■"X} 


.Jill'!. 


ae 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


r:\ 


w. 


tbey  call  it,  which  is  a  snake,  a  bird,  or  something  of  the 
kind,  which  they  have  dreamed  in  their  sleep,  and  in  which 
they  put  all  their  trust  for  the  success  of  their  ware,  fishinf]^, 
and  hunts.  Near  this  manitou  and  at  its  right,  they  put  the 
calumet  in  honor  of  which  the  feast  is  given,  making  around 
about  it  a  kind  of  trophy,  spreading  there  the  arms  used  by 
the  warriore  of  these  tribes,  namely,  the  war-club,  bow,  hatchet, 
quiver,  and  aiTows. 

Things  being  thus  arranged,  and  the  hour  for  dancing 
having  arrived,  those  who  are  to  sing  take  the  most  honorable 
place  under  the  foliage.  They  are  the  men  and  the  women 
who  have  the  finest  voices,  and  who  accord  perfectly.  The 
spectatore  then  come  and  take  their  places  around  under  the 
branches ;  but  each  one  on  arriving  must  salute  the  manitou, 
which  he  does  by  inhaling  the  smoke  and  then  puffing  it 
from  his  mouth  upon  it,  as  if  ofifering  incense.  Each  one 
goes  first  and  takes  the  calumet  respectfully,  and  supporting 
it  with  both  hands,  makes  it  dance  in  cadence,  suiting  him- 
self to  the  air  of  the  song ;  he  makes  it  go  through  various 
figures,  sometimes  showing  it  to  the  whole  assembly  by  turn- 
ing it  from  side  to  side. 

After  this,  he  who  is  to  begin  the  dance  appeare  in  the 
midst  of  the  assembly,  and  goes  first ;  sometimes  he  presents 
it  to  the  sun,  as  if  he  wished  it  to  smoke ;  sometime  he  in- 

rally  make  offerings  at  such  places.  Tlieir  bad  manitou  answers  to  our  devil. 
All  Indians  are  more  or  less  superstitious,  and  believe  in  miraculous  transforma- 
tions, ghosts,  and  witchcraft  They  have  jugglers  and  prophets  who  predict 
events,  interpret  dreams,  and  perforin  incantations  and  mumnicriea.  In  the 
true  acceptation  of  the  term,  the  Indians  have  a  religion,  for  they  believe 
in  a  great  spirit  who  resides  in  the  clouds,  and  reigns  throughout  the  earth. 
The  French  missionaries  have  been  the  most  successful  in  planting  Christianity 
among  them;  but  in  general,  they  prefer  "to  follow  the  religion  of  their  fa- 
thers." The  savage  mind,  habituated  to  sloth,  is  not  easily  roused  into  a  state 
of  moral  activity,  and  therefore,  in  general,  they  are  incapable  of  embracing  and 
understanding  the  sublime  truths  and  doctrines  of  the  evangelical  law.— F. 


'^•i 


DISOOVEBIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


87 


clines  it  to  the  earth ;  and  at  other  times  he  spreads  its  wings 
as  if  for  it  to  liy  •  at  other  times,  he  approaches  it  to  the  mouths 
of  the  spectators  for  them  to  smoke,  the  whole  in  cadence. 
This  is  the  first  scene  of  the  ballet. 

The  second  consists  in  a  combat,  to  the  sound  of  a  kind  of 
drum,  which  succeeds  the  songs,  or  rather  joins  them,  har- 
monizing quite  well.  The  dancer  beckons  to  some  brave  to 
come  and  take  the  arms  on  the  mat,  and  challenges  him  to 
fight  to  the  sound  of  the  drums ;  the  other  approaches,  takes 
his  bow  and  arrow,  and  begins  a  duel  against  the  dancer  who 
has  no  defence  but  the  calumet.  This  spectacle  is  very  pleas- 
ing, especially  as  it  is  always  done  in  time,  for  one  attacks, 
the  other  defends ;  one  strikes,  the  other  parries ;  one  files,  the 
other  pursues ;  then  he  who  fled  faces  and  puts  his  enemy  to 
flight.  This  is  all  done  so  well  with  measured  steps,  and  the 
regular  sound  of  voices  and  drums,  that  it  might  pass  for  a 
very  pretty  opening  of  a  ballet  in  France. 

The  third  scene  consists  of  a  speech  delivered  by  the  holder 
of  the  calumet,  for  the  combat  being  ended  without  bloodshed, 
he  relates  the  battles  he  was  in,  the  victories  he  has  gained ; 
he  names  the  nations,  the  places,  the  captives  he  has  taken, 
and  as  a  reward,  he  who  presides  at  the  dance  presents  him 
with  a  beautiful  beaver  robe,  or  something  else,  which  he 
receives,  and  then  he  presents  the  calumet  to  another,  who 
hands  it  to  a  third,  and  so  to  all  the  rest,  till  all  having  done 
their  duty,  the  presiding  chief  presents  the  calumet  itself  to 
the  nation  invited  to  this  ceremony  in  token  of  the  eternal 
peace  which  shall  reign  between  the  two  tribes. 

The  following  is  one  of  the  songs  which  they  are  accus- 
tomed to  sing ;  they  give  it  a  certain  expression,  not  easily 
represented  by  notes,  yet  in  this  all  its  grace  consists : — 

"Ninahani,  ninahani,  ninahani,  i 

Naniongo." 


''iC'' 


I  .  1-1 '.  I* 


'M 


]'*t 


im 


88 


ITABBATIYB  OF  FATHJSB  MABQITETTE. 


"We  take  leave  of  our  Ilinois  about  the  end  of  June,  at 
three  o'clock  in  tlie  afternoon,  and  embark  in  sight  of  all  the 
tribe,  who  admire  our  little  canoes,  having  never  seen  the  like. 

We  descend,  following  the  course  of  the  river,  toward  an- 
other called  Pekitanoiii,*  which  empties  into  the  Missisipi, 
coming  from  the  northwest,  of  which  I  have  something  con- 
siderable to  say,  after  I  have  related  what  I  have  remarked 
of  this  river. 

Passing  by  some  pretty  high  rocks  which  line  the  river,  I 
perceived  a  plant  which  seemed  to  me  very  remarkable.  Its 
root  is  like  small  turnips  linked  together  by  little  fibres,  which 
had  the  taste  of  carrots.  From  this  root  springs  a  leaf  as  wide 
as  the  hand,  half  of  a  finger  thick  with  spots  in  the  mid- 
dle ;  from  this  leaf  spring  other  leaves  like  the  sockets  of 
chandeliers  in  our  saloons.  Each  leaf  bears  five  or  six  bell- 
shaped  yellow  flowers.f  "We  found  abundance  of  mulberries, 
as  large  as  the  French,  and  a  small  fruit  which  we  took  at 
first  for  olives,  but  it  had  the  taste  of  an  orange,  and  another 
as  large  as  a  hen's  egg ;  we  broke  it  in  half  and  found  two 
separations,  in  each  of  which  were  encased  eight  or  ten  seed 
shaped  like  an  almond,  which  are  quite  good  when  ripe.:(:  The 
tree  which  bears  them  has,  however,  a  very  bad  smell,  and 
its  leaf  resembles  that  of  the  walnut.  There  are  also,  in  the 
prairies,  fruit  resembling  our  filberts,  but  more  tender;  the 
leaves  are  larger,  and  spring  from  a  stalk  crowned  at  the  top 
with  a  head  like  a  sunflower,  in  which  all  these  nuts  are 
neatly  airanged ;  they  are  very  good  cooked  or  raw.f 


*  The  name  here  given  by  Marquette,  Pekitanoui,  that  is,  muddy  water,  pre- 
vailed till  Marest's  time,  (1712).  A  branch  of  Bock  river  is  still  called  Pekatonica. 
The  Recollects,  called  the  Missouri,  the  river  of  the  Ozages. 

f  Probably  the  Cachts  opuntia,  several  species  of  which  grow  in  the  western 
Btatea— F. 

I  Probably  the  Dionpyrot  virginian<i,  or  persimon-tree. 

I  Probably  the  Castanea  pumila,  or  chincapin. — ^F. 


DISCOVERIES    IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


30 


As  we  coasted  along  roclcs  frightful  for  their  height  and 
length,  we  saw  two  monstera  painted  on  one  of  these  rocks, 
which  startled  us  at  first,  and  on  which  the  boldest  Indian 
dare  not  gaze  long.  They  are  as  large  as  a  calf,  with  horns 
on  the  head  like  a  deer,  a  fearful  look,  red  eyes,  bearded  like 
a  tiger,  the  face  somewhat  like  a  man's,  the  body  covered  with 
scales,  and  the  tail  so  long  that  it  twice  makes  the  turn  of  the 
body,  passing  over  the  head  and  down  between  the  legs,  and 
ending  at  last  in  a  fish's  tail.  Green,  red,  and  a  kind  of  black, 
are  the  colors  employed.  On  the  whole,  these  two  monsters 
are  so  well  painted,  that  we  could  not  believe  any  Indian  to 
have  been  the  designer,  as  good  painters  in  France  would  find  it 
hard  to  do  as  well ;  besides  this,  they  are  so  high  upon  the  rock 
that  it  is  hard  to  get  conveniently  at  them  to  paint  them.  This 
is  pretty  nearly  the  figure  of  these  monsters,  as  I  drew  it  off.* 

As  we  were  discoureing  of  them,  sailing  gently  down  a 
beautiful,  still,  clear  water,  we  heard  the  noise  of  a  rapid  into 
which  we  were  about  to  fall.  I  have  seen  nothing  more  fright- 
ful; a  mass  of  large  trees,  entire,  with  branches,  real  floating 
islands,  came  rushing  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  Pekitanoiii, 
so  impetuously,  that  we  could  not,  without  great  danger, 
expose  ourselves  to  pass  across.  The  agitation  Was  so  great 
that  the  water  was  all  muddy  and  could  not  get  clear. 

Fekitanoiiif  is  a  considerable  river  which  coming  from 


*  Tlie  drawing  of  these  figures  by  Marquette  is  lost  "The  painted  monsters," 
says  Stoddard,  "  on  the  side  of  a  high  perpendicular  rock,  apparently  inaccessi- 
ble to  man,  between  the  Missouri  and  IHnois,  and  known  to  moderns  by  the 
name  of  Piesa,  still  remain  in  a  good  degree  of  preservation." 

f  Father  Marquette  had  now  reached  the  junction  of  the  Missouri  and  the 
Mississippi,  in  latititude  north  38°  60'.  "The  Achclous  and  Tcliboas,"  says 
Stoddard,  "are  insignificant  rivers  when  compared  with  the  Mississippi  and 
MiL'touri ;  yet  Thucydides  and  Xenophon  exerted  all  their  powers  to  render  them 
immortal.  Tlie  two  great  rivers  of  the  west  furnish  themes  still  more  pregnant 
with  the  sublime  and  beautiful.  The  great  length  of  them,  the  variety  of  scenery 
OS  they  roll  among  mountains,  or  over  extensive  plainsi  at  once  charm  the  senses 


•M:<: 


Ill'" 


1.1  ■  'i 


i;;;.i.;.f,|l 


WM\ 


40 


NAKRATTVE   OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


very  far  in  the  northwest,  empties  into  the  Missisipi.  Many 
Indian  towns  are  ranged  along  this  river,  and  I  hope,  by  its 
means,  to  make  the  discovery  of  the  Red,  or  California  sea." 

We  judged  by  the  direction  the  Missisipi  takes,  that  if 
it  keeps  on  the  same  coui-se  it  has  its  mouth  in  the  gulf  of 
Mexico ;  it  would  be  very  advantageous  to  find  that  which 
leads  to  the  South  sea,  toward  California  and  this,  as  I  said, 
I  hope  to  find  by  Pekitanoiii,  following  the  account  which  the 
Indians  have  given  me ;  for  from  them  I  learn  that  advancing 
np  this  river  for  five  or  six  days,  you  come  to  a  beautiful 
prairie  twenty  or  thirty  leagues  long,  which  you  must  cross  to 
the  northwest.  It  terminates  at  another  little  river  on  which 
you  can  embark,  it  not  being  difficult  to  transport  canoes  over 
80  beautiful  a  country  as  that  prairie.  This  second  river  runs 
southwest  for  ten  or  fifteen  leagues,  after  which  it  enters  a 
small  lake,  which  is  the  source  of  another  deep  river,  running 
to  the  west  where  it  empties  into  the  sea.*  I  have  hardly 
any  doubt  that  this  is  the  Red  sea,  and  I  do  not  despair  of 
one  day  making  the  discovery,  if  God  does  me  this  favor  and 
grants  me  health,  in  order  to  be  able  to  publish  the  gospel  to 
all  the  nations  of  this  new  world  who  have  so  long  been 
plunged  in  heathen  darkness. 

Let  us  resume  our  route  after  having  escaped  as  best  we 
could,  the  dangerous  rapid  caused  by  the  obstacle  of  which 
I  have  spoken. 

and  warm  the  imagination.  The  facilities  they  yield  to  commerce,  the  superflu- 
ous wealth  of  twenty  states  conveyed  to  the  ocean,  the  variety  of  climates,  soils^ 
and  productions  on  their  borders,  the  mineral  ond  other  subterranean  riches  of  the 
soil,  seem  to  be  designed  by  Heaven  to  impress  us  with  their  importance  and  suh- 
limity." 

*  Marquette  was  right  in  his  conjecture,  as  topographical  surveys  have  since 
determined,  that  the  gulf  of  California  might  be  reached  by  the  Platte  which  is 
one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Missouri.  The  head  waters  of  the  Platte  almost  in- 
terlock with  the  head  waters  of  the  Colorado,  which  latter  river  flows  into  tlie 
Red  sea,  or  gulf  of  California,  as  here  stated  by  Marquette. — ^F. 


iw^;  i 


DI8COVEEIE8  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


41 


SECTION  VII. 

KEW  COUNTRIES  DISCOVERED  BY  THE  FATHER.-VARIOUS  PARTICULARS.— 
MEETING  WITH  SOME  INDIANS.-FIRST  TIDINGS  OF  THE  SEA  AND  OF  EURO. 
PEANS.— GREAT  DANGER  AVOIDED  BY  THE  CALUMET. 

After  having  made  about  twenty  leagues  due  south,  and 
a  little  less  to  the  southeast,  we  came  to  a  river  called  Oua- 
boukigou,*  the  mouth  of  which  is  at  36°  north.  Before  we 
arrived  there,  we  passed  by  a  place  dreaded  by  the  Indians, 
because  they  think  that  there  is  a  manitou  there,  that  is,  a 
demon  who  devours  all  who  pass,  and  of  this  it  was,  that  they 
had  spoken,  when  they  wished  to  deter  us  from  our  enter- 
prise. The  devil  is  this — a  small  bay,  full  of  rocks,  some 
twenty  feet  high,  where  the  whole  current  of  the  river  is 
whirled  ;  hurled  back  against  that  which  follows,  and  checked 
by  a  neighboring  island,  the  mass  of  water  is  forced  through 
a  narrow  channel ;  all  this  is  not  done  without  a  f  rious  com- 
bat of  the  waters  tumbling  over  each  other,  n^  without  a 
great  roaring,  which  strikes  terror  into  Indians  who  fear 
everything.  It  did  not  prevent  our  passing  and  reaching 
8ab8kig8.  This  river  comes  from  the  country  on  the  east, 
inhabited  by  the  people  called  Chaouanon8,f  in  such  numbers 

*  The  Ohio,  or  beautiful  river,  as  that  Iroquois  name  signifies.  The  name 
given  by  Marquette,  became  finally  Ouabache,  in  our  spelling  Wabash,  and  is 
now  applied  to  the  last  tributary  of  the  Ohio.  The  letter  used  a  few  lines  lower 
down  for  ou,  is  the  Greek  contraction,  and  was  used  by  the  missionaries  to  ex- 
press a  peculiar  Indian  sound,  which  we  have  often  represented  by  W. 

f  The  Chawanons  have  become  by  our  substitution  of  sh,  Shawnees.  I  find 
the  name  Chaoiianong  in  the  Relation  1671-"72,  as  another  name  for  the  people 
called  Ontouagannha,  which  is  defined  in  the  Relation  of  1661-62,  to  mean 
"  where  they  do  not  know  how  to  speak."  This  is  not  then  their  name,  and 
the  name  Chaoiianong  probably  came  through  the  western  Algonquins,  and  was 
usually  translated  by  the  French  the  Chats,  or  Cat  tribe.  I  am  strongly  In- 
clined to  think  them  identical  with  the  tribe  called,  by  the  Huron  missionaries, 
while  that  nation  stood,  the  Erieehonone^  or  Cats  {Rel.  1640-'41).    This  tribe 


^. 


42 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


|»<lN|:!lt| 


•^ u 


M' 


Uw 


that  they  reckon  as  many  as  twenty-three  villages  in  one  dis- 
trict, and  fifteen  in  another,  lying  quite  near  each  other; 
they  are  by  no  means  warlike,  and  are  the  people  the  Iro- 
quois go  far  to  seek  in  order  to  wage  an  unprovoked  war  upon 
them ;  and,  as  these  poor  people  can  not  defend  themselves, 
they  allow  themselves  to  be  taken  and  carried  oflf  like  sheep, 
and  innocent  as  they  are,  do  not  fail  to  experience,  at  times, 
the  barbarity  of  the  Iroquois,  who  bum  them  cruelly. 

A  little  above  this  river  of  which  I  have  just  spoken,  are 
cliffs  where  our  men  perceived  an  iron  mine,  which  they 
deemed  very  rich  ;  there  are  many  veins,  and  a  bed  a  foot 
thick.  Large  masses  are  found  combined  with  pebbles. 
There  is  also  there  a  kind  of  unctuous  earth  of  three  colors, 
purple,  violet,  and  red,*  the  water  in  which  it  is  washed  be- 
comes blood-red.  There  is  also  a  very  heavy,  red  sand  ;  I 
put  some  on  a  paddle,  and  it  took  the  color  so  well,  that  the 

then  occupied  western  New  York,  except  a  little  strip  on  the  Niagara  river, 
where  there  were  three  or  four  villages  of  Attiwandaronk,  or  Neuters.  Morgan 
in  his  League  of  the  Iroquois,  indeed,  thinks  the  Neuters  to  be  Cats ;  but  as  the 
Neuters  were  incorporated  into  the  Iroquois  {Rel.  1655,  Ac),  under  the  name 
of  Atirhagenreti  or  lihagenraka  {Rels.  1671,  '73,  '74),  while  the  Eries  were  grad- 
ually expelled ;  it  seems  more  probable  that  they  retired  from  their  lake  to  the 
Ohio,  thence  to  the  Tennessee,  and  turning  south,  came  up  again  to  Pennsylvania. 
During  this  period,  being  known  chiefly  through  Algonquins  tribes,  they  were 
called  by  an  Algonquin  word  for  the  animal  of  which  they  bore  the  name.  De 
Laet  giving  the  names  of  the  tribes  from  the  mouth  of  the  Delaware  to  Lake  Erie, 
puts  the  SawanoB  one  of  those  nearest  the  Senecas  and  the  lake ;  and  this  name 
differs  from  the  later  French  name  only  in  the  aspirate,  frequently  omitted  and 
expressed  at  random  by  the  same  writer,  as  we  find  MissilimcHnac,  and  Michili- 
mackinac,  Maskoutena  and  Machkoutens,  Kaskaakia  an*'  JCacttcachkia.  This  will 
I  think,  justify  our  supposing  the  Eries,  Shawnees,  Chaouanons,  Ontotiagannha, 
Sawanas,  to  be  the  same  unfortunate  tribe  whom  the  Iroquois  so  persevering'.y 
followed.  Much  confusion  has  been  of  late  years  occasioned  by  writers  uttei  ly 
unfamiliar  with  the  language,  religion,  or  writings  of  the  early  French  mission- 
aries. This  has  gone  so  far,  that  in  Schoolcraft's  ponderous  work  on  the  Hiatory, 
Condition,  and  Progreaa  of  the  Indian  Tribea,  we  are  asked,  at  p.  660,  whether 
the  Eries  were  the  Neuters  I 

*  This  has  always  been  a  favorite  spot  for  the  resort  of  Indians  to  obtain  dif- 
ferent colored  clays  with  which  they  paint  themselves. — ^P. 


DISOOTEBIES  IS  THE  MISSISSIPFI  YALLET. 


48 


water  did  not  efface  it  for  fifteen  days  that  I  used  it  in  row- 
ing. 

Here  we  began  to  see  canes,  or  large  reeds  on  the  banks 
of  the  river ;  they  are  of  a  very  beautiful  green ;  all  the  knots 
are  crowned  with  long,  naiTow,  pointed  leaves ;  they  are  very 
high,  and  so  thick-set,  that  the  wild  cattle  find  it  difficult  to 
make  their  way  through  them. 

Up  to  the  present  time  we  had  not  been  troubled  by  mus- 
quitoes,  but  we  now,  as  it  were,  entered  their  country  *  Let 
me  tell  you  what  the  Indians  of  these  parts  do  to  defend 
themselves  against  them.  They  raise  a  scaffolding,  the  floor 
of  which  is  made  of  simple  poles,  and  consequently  a  mere 
grate-work  to  give  passage  to  the  smoke  of  a  fire  which  they 
build  beneath.  This  drives  off  the  little  animals,  as  they  can 
not  bear  it.  The  Indians  sleep  on  the  poles,  having  pieces  of 
bark  stretched  above  them  to  keep  off  the  rain.  This  scaf. 
folding  shelters  them  too  from  the  excessive  and  insupport- 
able heat  of  the  country ;  for  they  lie  in  the  shade  in  the 
lower  story,  and  are  thus  sheltered  from  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
enjoy  the  cool  air  which  passes  freely  through  the  scaffold. 

"With  the  same  view  we  were  obliged  to  make  on  the  water 
a  kind  of  cabin  with  our  sails,  to  shelter  oureelves  from  the 
musquitoes  and  the  sun.  "While  thus  borne  on  at  the  will  of  the 
current,  we  perceived  on  the  shore  Indians  armed  with  guns, 
with  which  they  awaited  us.  I  first  presented  my  feathered 
calnmct,  while  my  comrades  stood  to  arms,  ready  to  fire  on 
the  firet  volley  of  the  Indians.  I  hailed  them  in  Huron,  but 
they  answered  mo  by  a  word,  which  seemed  to  us  a  declara- 
tion of  war.    They  were,  however,  as  much  frightened  as  our- 

*  Marquette  had  now  reached  the  country  of  the  -warlike  Chicachas,  -whoBe 
territory  extended  several  hundred  miles  along  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
far  to  the  eastward,  where  they  carried  on  a  traffic  with  tribes  who  traded  with 
Europeans. — ^F. 


''SK 


illh.     ■< 


:M 


:# 


„■■""  "iiij 


'ftiilllsllii 


IISII 


44 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER   MARQUBTTB. 


selves,  and  what  we  took  for  a  signal  of  war,  was  an  invitation 
to  come  near,  that  they  might  give  us  food ;  we  accordingly 
landed  and  entered  their  cabins,  where  they  presented  us 
wild-beef  and  bear's  oil,  with  white  phims,  which  are  excel- 
lent. They  have  guns,  axes,  hoes,  knives,  beads,  and  double 
glass  bottles  in  which  they  keep  the  powder.  They  wear 
their  hair  long  and  mark  their  bodies  in  the  Iroquois  fashion ; 
the  head-dress  and  clothing  of  their  women  were  like  those 
of  the  Huron  squaws. 

They  assured  us  that  it  was  not  more  than  ten  days'  jouniey 
to  the  sea ;  that  they  bought  stuffs  and  other  articles  of  Euro- 
peans on  the  eastern  side ;  that  these  Europeans  had  rosaries 
and  pictures;  that  they  played  on  instruments;  that  some 
were  like  me,  who  received  them  well.  I  did  not,  however, 
see  any  one  who  seemed  to  have  received  any  instruction 
in  the  faith;  such  as  I  could,  I  gave  them  with  some 
medals.* 

This  news  roused  our  courage  and  made  us  take  up  our 
paddles  with  renewed  ardor.  We  advance  then,  and  now 
begin  to  see  less  prairie  land,  because  both  sides  or  the  river 
are  lined  with  lofty  woods.  The  cotton-wood,  elm  and  white- 
wood,  are  of  admirable  height  and  size.  The  numbers  of  wild 
cattle  we  heard  bellowing,  made  us  believe  the  prairies  near. 
AVe  also  saw  quails  on  the  water's  edge,  and  killed  a  little 
parrot  with  half  the  head  red,  the  rest,  with  the  neck,  yellow, 
and  the  body  green.  "We  had  now  descended  to  near  33° 
north,  having  almost  always  gone  south,  when  on  the  water's 

*  The  missionary  gives  no  name  to  this  tribe  or  party,  but  from  their  dresa 
and  language,  apparently  of  the  Huron-Iroquois  family,  they  may  have  been  a 
Tuscarora  party,  and  referred  to  the  Spaniards  of  Florida  with  whom  they 
traded  in  trinkiits  for  skins.  That  they  were  not  dwellers  on  the  Mississippi 
seems  probable  from  the  fact  that  they  were  spoken  of,  not  by  the  next  tribe, 
but  by  those  lower  down,  whom  they  had  doubtless  reached  on  some  other 
foray. 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


45 


edge  we  perceived  a  village  called  Mitcliigamea.*  "We  had 
recourse  to  our  patroness  and  guide,  the  Blessed  Virgin  lui- 
maculate;  and,  indeed,  we  needed  her  aid,  for  we  heard  from 
afar  the  Indians  exciting  one  another  to  the  combat  by  con- 
tinual yells.  They  were  aimed  with  bows,  arrows,  axes,  war- 
clubs,  and  bucklers,  and  prepared  to  attack  us  by  land  and 
water;  some  embarked  in  large  wooden  canoes,  a  part  to  ascend 
the  rest  to  descend  the  river,  so  as  to  cut  off  our  way,  and 
surround  us  completely.  Those  on  shore  kept  going  and 
coming,  as  if  about  to  begin  the  attack.  In  fact,  some  young 
men  sprang  into  the  water  to  come  and  seize  my  canoe,  but 
the  current  having  compelled  them  to  return  to  the  shore,  one 
of  them  threw  his  war-club  at  us,  but  it  passed  over  our  heads 
without  doing  us  any  harm.  In  vain  I  showed  the  calumet, 
and  made  gestures  to  explain  that  we  had  not  come  as  ene- 
mies. The  alarm  continued,  and  they  were  about  to  pierce 
us  from  all  sides  with  their  arrows,  when  God  suddenly 
touched  the  hearts  of  the  old  men  on  the  water-side,  doubt- 
less at  the  sight  of  our  calumet,  which  at  a  distance  they  had 
not  distinctly  recognised ;  but  as  I  showed  it  continually,  they 
were  touched,  restrained  the  ardor  of  their  youth,  and  two  of 
the  chiefs  having  thrown  their  bows  and  quivers  into  our 
canoe,  and  as  it  were  at  our  feet,  entered  and  brought  us  to 
the  shore,  where  we  disembarked,  not  without  fear  on  our 
part.    "We  had  at  first  to  speak  by  signs,  for  not  one  under- 

•  The  Mitchigameas  were  a  warlike  tribe,  and  lived  on  a  lake  of  that  name 
near  the  river  St  Francis,  They  finally  became  fused  into  the  Ilinois  nation, 
as  Charlevoix  assures  us  in  his  journal,  where  he  makes  them  inhabitants  of  the 
villages  of  the  Kaskaskias,  in  1721-  Tliis  brings  them  near  the  part  which  had 
but  shortly  before  taken  the  name  of  Michigan,  given  also  to  the  lake  which  the 
Jesuiti  called  Lake  Ilinois.  The  name  Michigan  may  come  from  them,  though 
I  am  informed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pierz,  an  Ottawa  missionary,  that  Mitchikan, 
meaning  a  /ewce,  was  the  Indian  of  Mackinaw,  and  the  naiue  under  the  form 
Jlachihiganing  was  used  some  years  prior  by  Allouez. — Jiel.  69,  70. 


46 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER   MARQUETTE. 


111"! 'I  I 

IIHlj 


litiiji 


K 


I'  '1 

!"-.  I"'' 


im 


iMU'iimiji,' 


#1 


'"Itl 


Btood  a  word  of  the  Bix  languages  I  knew ;  at  last  an  old  man 
was  found  who  spoke  a  little  Ilinois. 

■ 

We  showed  them  by  our  presents,  that  we  were  going  to  the 
sea ;  they  perfectly  understood  our  meaning,  but  I  know  not 
whether  they  understood  what  I  told  them  of  God,  and  the 
things  which  concerned  their  salvation.  It  is  a  seed  ca^t  in 
the  earth  which  will  bear  its  fruit  in  season  We  got  no 
answer,  except  that  we  would  learn  all  we  desired  at  another 
great  village  called  Akamsea,  only  eighi.  or  ten  leagues 
farther  down  the  river.  They  presented  ua  with  sagamity 
and  fish,  and  we  spent  the  night  among  them,  not,  however, 
without  some  uneasiness. 


SECTION    VIII. 


RBCEPTIOX  GmHf  TO  THE  FRBlfCH  IN  THE  LAST  OF  THK  TOWNS  WHICH 
THEY  SAW.— MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THESE  SAVAQES,— REASONS  FOR 
NOT  GOING  FURTHER. 

We  embarked  next  morning  with  our  interpreter,  preceded 
by  ten  Indians  in  a  canoe.  Having  arrived  about  half  a 
league  from  Akamsea*  (Arkansas),  we  saw  two  canoes  coming 

*  It  is  probable  that  Akamsea  was  not  far  from  the  Indian  village  of  Ouaoho- 
jB,  where  De  Soto  breathed  his  last,  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  before ;  and 
Mitchigamea,  the  village  of  Aminoya,  where  Alvarado  de  Moscoso  built  his  fleet 
of  brigantines  to  return  to  Mexico.  The  historian  of  that  expedition,  says  "The 
same  day  we  left  Aminoya  (July  2d,  1643),  we  passed  by  Guachoya,  where  the 
Indians  tarried  for  us  in  their  canoes."  Tlie  Spaniards  were  attacked  in  de- 
scending the  river  by  powerful  fleets  of  Indian  canoes,  and  lost  in  one  of  these 
engagements  the  brave  John  de  Guzman  and  eleven  men.  In  sixteen  days  they 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  on  the  10th  September,  1643,  the  rem- 
nant of  this  once  splendid  expedition  reached  Mexico.  It  must  have  been,  there- 
fore, at  or  near  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  and  not  Red  river,  where  De  Soto 
died,  otherwise  it  would  not  have  taken  Moscoso  one  half  of  the  time  to  reach 
the  gulf  of  Mexico  from  the  latter  river,  which  is  but  three  hundred  and  fifty 
mileB  from  the  gulf. — ^F. 


Ml. '4 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIl'PI   VALLEY. 


47 


toward  us.  The  commander  was  standing  up  holding  in  his 
hand  the  calumet,  witli  which  he  made  signs  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  country;  he  approached  us,  singing  quite 
agreeably,  and  invited  us  to  smoke,  after  w^hich  ho  present- 
ed us  some  sagamity  and  bread  made  of  Indian  corn,  of 
which  we  ate  a  little.  He  now  took  the  lead,  making  us 
signs  to  follow  slowly.  Meanwhile  they  had  prepared  us  a 
place  under  the  war-chiefs'  scaffold ;  it  was  neat  and  car- 
peted with  fine  rush  mats,  on  which  they  made  us  sit  down, 
having  around  us  immediately  the  sachems,  then  the  braves, 
and  last  of  all,  the  people  in  crowds.  "We  fortunately 
found  among  them  a  young  man  who  understood  Ilinois 
much  better  than  the  interpreter  whom  we  had  brought 
from  Mitchigamea.  By  means  of  him  I  firet  spoke  to  the 
assembly  by  the.  ordinary  presents ;  they  admired  what 
I  told  them  of  God,  and  the  mysteries  of  our  holy  faith, 
and  showed  a  great  desire  to  keep  me  with  them  to  instruct 
them. 

We  then  asked  them  what  they  knew  of  the  sea ;  they  re- 
plied that  we  were  only  ten  days'  jouraey  from  it  (we  could 
have  made  this  distance  in  five  days) ;  that  they  did  not  know 
the  nations  who  inhabited  it,  because  their  enemies  prevented 
their  commerce  with  those  Europeans;  that  the  hatchets, 
knives,  and  beads,  which  we  saw,  were  sold  them,  partly  by 
the  nations  to  the  east,  and  partly  by  an  Ilinois  town  four 
days'  journey  to  the  west ;  that  the  Indians  with  fire-arms 
whom  we  had  met,  were  their  enemies  who  cut  oflf  their  pas- 
sage to  the  sea,  and  prevented  tlieir  making  the  acquaintance 
of  the  Europeans,  or  having  any  commerce  with  them ;  that, 
besides,  we  should  expose  ourselves  greatly  by  passing  on,  in 
consequence  of  the  continual  war-parties  that  their  enemies 
sent  out  on  the  river ;  since  being  armed  and  used  to  war,  we 


■>{im 


48 


NAKKATIVE   OF  FATIIKU   MAKQUKTTi:. 


could  not,  without  evident  dunger,  udvance  on  that  river 
which  thoy  constantly  occupy. 

During  this  converse,  tiiey  kept  continually  bringing  us  in 
wooden  dishes  of  sagnujity,  Indian  com  whole,  or  pieces  of 
dog-flesh;  the  wliole  day  was  spent  in  feasting. 

These  Indians  are  very  courteous  and  liberal  of  what  they 
have,  but  they  are  very  poorly  off  for  food,  not  daring  to  go 
and  hunt  tljo  wild-cattle,  for  fear  of  their  enemies.  It  is 
true,  they  liavo  Indian  corn  in  abundance.,  which  they  sow 
at  all  seasons;  we  saw  some  ripe;  more  just  sprouting,  and 
more  just  in  the  ear,  so  that  they  sow  three  crops  a  year. 
They  cook  it  in  largo  earthern  i)otf,*  whicli  are  very  well 
made ;  they  Imve  also  plates  of  baked  earth,  which  they  em- 
ploy for  various  purposes.  The  men  go  naked,  and  wear 
their  hair  short;  they  have  the  n>se  and  ears  })ierced,  and 
beads  hanging  from  them.  The  women  are  dressed  in 
wretched  skins ;  they  braid  their  hair  in  two  plaits,  which  falls 
behind  their  eai*s  ;  they  have  no  ornaments  to  decorate  their 
persons.  Their  banquets  are  without  any  ceremonies ;  they 
serve  their  meats  in  large  dishes,  and  everyone  eats  as  much 
as  he  pleases,  and  they  give  the  rest  to  one  another.  Their 
language  is  extremely  difficult,  and  with  all  my  efforts,  I 
could  not  succeed  in  pronouncing  some  words.  Their  cabins, 
which  are  long  and  wide,  are  made  of  bark;  they  sleep  at 
the  two  extremities,  which  are  raised  about  two  feet  from  the 
ground.  They  keep  their  corn  in  large  baskets,  made  of 
cane,  or  in  gourds,  as  large  as  half  barrels.  They  do  not 
know  what  a  beaver  is  ;  their  riches  consisting  in  the  hides 
of  wild  cattle.    They  never  see  snow,  and  know  the  winter 

•  Indian  pottery  is  one  of  the  most  onoient  arts  of  this  country.  Tlie  southern 
tribes  pnrticularly  excelled  in  the  manufneture  of  various  articles  for  household 
use,  which,  in  form  and  finish,  were  not  unlike  the  best  remains  of  Roman 
art— F.    ...-:..  :...,. 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLET. 


49 


only  by  the  rain  which  falls  oftonor  thon  in  summor  *  "We  oat 
no  fruit  thero  but  watermelons ;  if  they  knew  how  to  culti- 
vate tiioir  ground,  they  might  have  plenty  of  all  kinds. 

In  the  evening  the  sachems  held  a  secret  council  on  the  de- 
sign of  some  to  kill  us  for  plunder,  but  the  chief  broke  up  all 
these  scheincfl,  and  sending  for  us,  danced  the  calumet  in  our 
presence,  in  the  maimer  I  have  described  above,  as  a  mark 
of  perfect  assurance ;  and  then,  to  remove  all  fears,  presented 
it  to  mo. 

M.  JoUyet  and  I  held  another  council  to  deliberate  on 
what  we  should  do,  whether  we  should  push  on,  or  rest  satis- 
fied with  the  discovery  that  we  had  made.  After  having  at- 
tentively considered  that  we  were  not  far  from  the  gulf  of 
Mexico,  the  basin  of  which  is  31°  40'  north,  and  we  at  33° 
40',  so  that  we  could  not  be  more  than  two  or  three  days 
journey  off;  that  the  Missisipi  undoubtedly  had  its  mouth 
in  Florida  or  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  not  on  the  east,  in 
Virginia,  whose  seacoast  is  at  34°  north,  which  we  had  passed, 
without  having  as  yet  reached  the  sea,  nor  on  the  western 
side  in  California,  because  that  would  require  a  west,  or  west- 
southwest  course,  and  we  had  always  been  going  south.  We 
considered,  moreover,  that  we  risked  losing  the  fruit  of  this 
voyage,  of  which  we  could  give  no  information,  if  we  should 
throw  ourselves  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  who  would 
undoubtedly,  at  least,  hold  us  as  prisoners.    Besides,  it  was 


*  Marquette  had  now  descended  to  genial  cUmes,  "that  knew  no  winter,  but 
rains,  beyond  the  bound  of  the  Huron  and  Algonquin  tribes,"  to  tribes  that 
claimed  descent  from  the  Aztecs,  and  who  still  probably  spoke  a  Mexican  dialect 
which  compelled  Marquette  to  employ  on  interpreter.  The  few  words  which 
have  been  recorded  of  the  Arkansas  tribes  by  early  travellers,  and  the  similarity 
of  their  institutions  and  customs  to  Mexican  tribes,  seem  likewise  to  confirm 
their  origin.  That  they  came  from  Mexico  by  the  Rio  Colorado  and  headwaters 
of  the  Platte  or  Arkansas  rivers  to  the  Mississippi,  is  not  at  all  improbable;  bat 
when  they  came  is  a  problem  which  can  not  be  so  eoaily  solved. — ^F. 

4 


•bJkA' 


rN 


50 


NABHATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


"■,  !'.■;'■ ; 


Its 


I'. 


clear,  that  we  were  not  in  a  condition  to  resist  Indians  allied 
to  Europeans,  numerous  and  expert  in  the  use  of  fire-arms, 
who  continually  infested  the  lower  part  of  the  river.  Lastly, 
we  had  gathered  all  the  information  that  could  he  desired 
from  the  expedition.^  All  these  reasons  induced  us  to  re- 
solve to  return ;  this  we  announced  to  the  Indians,  and  after 
a  day's  rest,  prepared  for  it. 


SECTION  IX. 


RETURN  OF  THE  FATHER,  AND  THE  PRFjNCH  BAPTISM  OF  A  DYINO  CHILD. 

After  a  month's  navigation  down  the  Missisipi,  from  the 
42d  to  below  the  34th  degree,  and  after  having  published  the 
gospel  as  well  as  I  could  to  the  nations  I  had  met,  we  left  the 
village  of  Akamsea  on  the  17th  of  July,  to  retrace  our  steps. 
We  accordingly  ascended  the  Missisipi,  which  gave  us  great 
trouble  to  stem  its  currents.f  We  left  it  indeed,  about  the 
38th  degree,  to  enter  another  river,  which  greatly  shortened 

*  The  great  object  wa8  to  discover  -whets  the  river  emptied,  and  this  did  noi 
require  further  progress.  Marquette's  voyage  indeed  settled  it  so  completelj, 
that  we  find  no  more  hopes  expressed  of  reaching  the  Pacific  by  the  Mississippi 
The  missionary's  fears  of  the  Spaniards  were  not  unnatural,  as  New  Mexico  was 
the  avowed  object  of  the  expedition,  and  the  authorities  there  would  certainly 
have  prevented  their  return,  for  fear  of  opening  a  path  to  French  encroachment 

f  The  Mississippi  is  remarkable  for  its  great  length,  uncommon  depth,  and 
the  muddiness  and  salubrity  of  its  waters  after  ite  junction  with  the  Missouri 
Below  this  river  the  banks  present  a  rugged  aspect ;  the  channel  is  deep  and 
crooked,  and  often  winds  from  one  side  of  the  river  to  the  other.  The  strength 
and  rapidity  of  its  current  are  such  in  high  water,  that  before  steam  was  used, 
it  could  not  be  stemmed  without  much  labor  and  waste  of  time.  At  high  water 
the  current  descends  at  the  rate  of  five  or  six  miles  an  hour,  and  in  low  water 
at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  miles  only.  Between  the  Arkansas  and  the  Delta 
the  velocity  of  the  current  is  diminished  nearly  one  third ;  and  from  this  to  the 
sea,  about  one  half.  In  1*72*7,  it  took  Father  du  Poisson,  missionary  to  the  Ar- 
kansas, to  make  a  voyage  from  New  Orleans  to  that  mission,  inelading  somft 
•toppages,  from  the  26th  May  to  the  "^th  July.— F. 


DISOOVEBIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  TALLBT. 


51 


our  way,  and  brought  us,  with  little  trouble,  to  the  lake  of 
the  Ilinois.* 

We  had  seen  nothing  like  this  river  for  the  fertility  of 
the  land,  its  prairies,  woods,  wild  cattle,  stag,  deer,  wild- 
cats, bustards,  swans,  ducks,  parrots,  and  even  beaver;  its 
many  little  lakes  and  rivers.  That  on  which  we  sailed,  is 
broad,  deep,  and  gentle  for  sixty-five  leagues.  During  the 
spring  and  part  of  the  summer,  the  only  portage  is  half  a 
league. 

We  found  there  an  Ilinois  town  called  Easkaskia,  com- 
posed of  seventy-four  cabins ;  they  received  us  well,  and 
compelled  me  to  promise  to  return  and  instruct  them.  One 
of  the  chiefs  of  this  tribe  with  his  young  men,  escorted 
us  to  the  Ilinois  lake,  whence  at  last  we  returned  in  the  close 
of  September  to  the  bay  of  the  Fetid,  whence  we  had  set  out 
in  the  beginning  of  June. 

Had  all  this  voyage  caused  but  the  salvation  of  a  single 
soul,  I  should  deem  all  my  fatigue  well  repaid,  and  this  I 
have  reason  to  think,  for,  when  I  was  returning,  I  passed  by 
the  Indians  of  Peoria-f  I  was  three  days  announcing  the 
faith  in  all  their  cabins,  after  which  as  we  were  embarking, 
they  brought  me  on  the  water's  edge  a  dying  child,  which  I 


in 


*  Lake  Michigan  was  so  called  for  a  long  time,  probably  from  the  fact  that 
through  it  lay  the  direct  route  to  the  Ilinois  villages,  which  Father  Marquette 
was  now  the  first  to  visit  Marest  erroneously  treats  the  name  as  a  mistake 
of  geographers,  and  is  one  of  the  first  to  call  it  Michigan.  The  river  which  Mar- 
quotte  now  ascended  has  been  more  fortunate,  it  still  bears  the  name  of  Ilinois. 

f  Unfortunately  he  does  not  tells  us  where  he  met  these  roving  Peorians,  who 
thus  enabled  him  to  keep  his  promise  to  resist  them.  As  they  have  left  their 
name  on  the  Ilinois  river,  he  may  have  found  them  there,  below  the  Kaskaskias 
who,  no  less  erratic,  left  their  name  to  a  more  southerly  river,  and  to  a  town  at 
its  mouth,  on  the  Mississippi.  It  must  then  be  borne  in  mind  that  Marquette's 
Peoria,  and  his  and  AUo'ues'  town  of  Kaskaskia  are  quite  different  from  the  present 
places  of  the  name  in  situation.  The  Ilinois  seemed  to  have  formed  a  link  be- 
tween the  wandering  Algonquin  and  the  fixed  Iroquois;  they  had  villages  like 
the  latter,  and  though  they  roved  like  the  former,  they  roved  in  Tillages. 


58  KARBATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 

baptized  a  little  before  it  expired,  by  an  admirable  Providence 
for  the  salvation  of  that  innocent  soul.f 

f  The  following  table  of  distances  offer  the  best  means  of  forming  some  idea 
of  the  whole  distance  passed  over  hj  M.  Jollyet  and  Father  Marquette  :— 

Milei. 

From  the  mission  of  St  Ignac  to  Green  hay  about 218 

From  Green  bay  (Puans)  up  Fox  river  to  the  portage 176 

From  the  portage  down  the  Wisconsin  to  the  Mississippi 116 

Fromthemouthof  the  Wisconsin  to  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas. .  1,087 

From  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  to  the  Ilinois  river '. ...      647 

From  the  mouth  of  the  Ilinois  to  the  Chicago 806 

From  the  Chicago  to  Green  bay,  by  the  lake  shore 260 

!  2767 

SparKa  lAfe  of  Marqwtte. 


.       t 


v^kfS. 


■:■  -a 


CHAPTER  II. 


tTAKRATIVB  OP  THE  SECOtfD  yOYAOB  SfADE  BY  FATHER  JAMES  MARQUETTE 
TO  THE  ILINOtS  TO  CARRY  THE  FAITH  TO  THEM,  ASD  THE  GLORIOUS  DEATH 
OF  THE  SAME  FATHER  Iff  THE  LABORS  OF  HIS  MlSSIOtf. 


SECTION    I. 

THE  FATHER  SETS  OUT  A  SECOND  TIME  FOR  THE  ILINOIS.—HE  ARRIVES 
THERE  lit  SPITE  OF  HIS  ILLNESS  AND  FOUNDS  THE  MISSION  OP  THE  CON- 
CEPTION. 

FATHEiv  James  Marquette  having  promised  the  Ilinoia, 
called  Kaskaskia,  to  return  among  them  to  teach  them 
our  mysteries,  had  great  difficulty  in  keeping  his  word. 
The  great  hardships  of  his  first  voyage  had  brought  on  a  dys- 
entery, and  had  so  enfeebled  him,  that  he  lost  all  hope  of  un- 
deiliaking  a  second  voyage.  Yet,  his  malady  having  given 
way  and  almost  ceased  toward  the  close  of  summer  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  he  obtained  permission  of  his  superiors  to  return 
to  the  Ilinois  to  found  that  noble  mission.* 

*  By  his  last  journal,  which  we  publish  entire  from  his  autograph,  we  learn 
that  Father  Marquette  was  detained  at  the  mission  of  St  Francis  Xavier,  in  Green 
bay,  during  the  whole  summer  of  1674.  Recovering  in  September,  he  drew  up 
and  sent  to  his  superiors,  copies  of  his  journal  down  the  Mississippi,  and  having 
received  orders  to  repair  to  the  Ilinois,  set  out,  on  the  26th  of  October,  with  two 

men  named  Pierre  Porteret  and  Jacques .    They  crossed  the  peninsula 

which  forms  the  eastern  side  of  Green  bay,  and  began  to  coast  along  the  shore 
of  Lake  Michigan,  accompanied  by  some  Ilinois  and  Foltawatomies.  They  ad- 
vanced but  slowly  by  land  and  water,  frequently  arrested  by  the  state  of  the 
lake.  On  the  23d  of  November,  the  good  missionary  was  again  seized  by  his 
malady,  but  he  piished  on,  and  by  the  4th  of  December,  had  reached  the 
Chicago,  which  connects  by  portage  with  the  Ilinois.    But  the  river  was  now 


■r 


*-."' 


"i 


u 


NABBATITB  OF  FATHER  MABQUETTE. 


I,   ¥,.l 


He  set  out  for  this  purpose  in  the  month  of  November, 
1674,  from  the  Bay  of  the  Fetid,  with  two  men,  one  of  whom 
had  already  made  that  voyage  with  him.  During  a  month's 
navigation  on  the  Ilinois  lake,  he  was  pretty  well ;  but  as 
soon  as  the  snow  began  to  fall,  he  was  again  seized  with  the 
dysentery  which  forced  him  to  stop  in  the  river  which  leads 
to  the  Ilinois.  There  they  raised  a  cabin  and  spent  the  win- 
ter in  such  want  of  every  comfort  that  his  illness  constantly 
increased ;  he  felt  that  God  had  granted  him  the  grace  he 
jiad  so  often  asked,  and  he  even  plainly  told  his  com- 
panions so,  assuring  them  that  he  would  die  of  that  ill- 
ness, and  on  that  voyage.  To  prepare  his  soul  for  its  de- 
parture, he  began  that  rude  wintering  by  the  exercises  of 
St.  Ignatius,*  which,  in  spite  of  his  great  bodily  weakness,  ho 

frozen,  and  though  they  attempted  to  proceed,  the  pious  missionary  submitted 
to  the  necessity,  and  deprived  even  of  the  consolation  of  saying  mass  on  bis 
patronal  feast,  the  Immaculate  Conception,  resolved  at  last,  on  the  14th,  to  win- 
ter at  the  portage,  as  bis  illness  increased.  His  Indian  companions  now  left 
him,  and  though  aided  by  some  French  traders,  he  suffered  much  during  the  fol- 
lowing  months.  Of  this,  however,  he  says  nothing.  "The  Blessed  Virgin  Im- 
maculate," says  his  journal,  "  has  taken  such  care  of  us  during  our  wandering, 
that  we  have  never  wanted  food ;  we  have  lived  very  comfortably ;  my  illness 
not  having  prevented  my  saying  mass  every  day."  How  little  can  we  realize 
the  faith  and  self-denial  which  could  give  so  pleasant  a  face  to  a  winter  passed 
by  a  dying  man  in  a  cabin  open  to  the  winds.  The  Ilinois  aware  of  his  presence 
Bo  near  them,  sent  indeed ;  but  so  gross  were  their  ideas  of  his  object,  that  they 
asked  the  dying  missionary  for  powder  and  goods.  "  I  have  come  to  instruct 
you,  and  speak  to  you  of  the  prayer,"  was  his  answer.  "Powder,  I  have  not; 
we  come  to  spread  peace  through  the  land,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  see  you  at  war 
with  the  Miami&"  As  for  goods,  he  could  but  encourage  the  French  to  continue 
their  trade.  Despairing  at  last  of  human  remedies,  the  missionary  and  his  two 
pious  companions  began  a  noveno,  or  nine  days'  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Im- 
maculate. From  its  close  he  began  to  gain  strength,  and  wher.  the  freshet  com- 
pelled them  to  remove  their  cabin,  on  the  29th  of  March  he  set  out  again  on  hia 
long  interrupted  voyage,  the  river  being  now  open  ;  his  last  entry  is  of  the  6th 
of  April,  when  the  wind  and  cold  compelled  them  to  halt  Ho  never  found  time 
to  continue  his  journal ;  and  his  last  words  are  a  playful  allusion  to  the  hard- 
ships undergone  by  the  traders,  in  which  he  sympathized,  while  insensible  of  his 
own. 
*  These  are  a  series  of  meditation  on  the  great  truths  of  religion — the  object 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


55 


performed  with  deep  sentiments  of  devotion,  and  great  heav- 
enly consolation ;  and  then  spent  the  rest  of  his  time  in  collo- 
quies with  all  heaven,  having  no  more  intercourse  with  earth, 
amid  these  deserts,  except  with  his  two  companions  whom  he 
confessed  and  communicated  twice  a  week,  and  exhorted  as 
much  as  his  strength  allowed.  Some  time  after  Christmas, 
in  order  to  obtain  the  grace  not  to  die  without  having  taken 
possession  of  his  beloved  mission,  he  invited  his  companions 
to  make  a  novena  in  honor  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  Contrary  to  all  human  expectation  he  was 
heard  and  recovering  found  himself  able  to  proceed  to  the 
Ilinois  town  as  soon  as  navigation  was  free ;  this  he  accom- 
plished in  great  joy,  setting  out  on  the  29th  of  March.  He 
was  eleven  days  on  the  way,  where  he  had  ample  matter  for 
suffering,  both  from  his  still  sickly  state,  and  from  the  sever- 
ity and  inclemency  of  the  weather. 

Having  at  last  reached  the  town  on  the  8th  of  April,  he 
was  received  there  as  an  angel  from  heaven ;  and  after  having 
several  times  assembled  the  chiefs  of  the  nation  with  all  the 
old  men  (anciens),*  to  sow  in  their  minds  the  firet  seed  of  the 
gospel ;  after  carrying  his  instructions  into  the  cabins,  which 
were  always  filled  with  crowds  of  people,  he  resolved  to  speak 
to  all  publicly  in  general  assembly,  which  he  convoked  in 
the  open  fields,  the  cabins  being  too  small  for  the  meeting.  A 
beautiful  prairie  near  the  town  was  chosen  for  the  great  coun- 
cil ;  it  was  adorned  in  the  fashion  of  the  country,  being  spread 
with  mats  and  bear  skins,  and  the  father  having  hung  on  cords 
some  pieces  of  India  taffety,  attached  to  them  four  large  pictures 


of  man's  creation,  the  work  of  his  redemption,  and  the  means  of  attaining  the 
former  by  participating  in  the  latter.  To  spend  a  number  of  days  in  reTolving 
these  serious  thoughts  is  called  making  a  retreat 

*  I  have  my  doubts  whether  atusieni,  in  these  French  accounts^  does  not  mean 
tachemi^  the  rulers  of  the  tribe. 


56 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


I"! 


of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  wliicli  were  thus  visible  on  all  sides.  The 
auditory  was  compov^ed  of  five  hundred  chiefs  and  old  men, 
seated  in  a  circle  around  the  father,  while  the  youth  stood 
without  to  the  number  of  fifteen  hundred,  not  counting  women 
and  children,  who  are  very  numerous,  the  town  being  com- 
posed of  five  or  six  hundred  fires. 

The  father  spoke  to  all  this  gathering,  and  addressed  them 
ten  words  by  ten  presents  which  he  made  them  ;*  he  ex- 
plained to  them  the  principal  mysteries  of  our  religion,  and 
the  end  for  which  he  had  come  to  their  country ;  and  es- 
pecially he  preached  to  them  Christ  crucified,  for  it  was  the 
very  eve  of  the  great  day  on  which  he  died  on  the  cross  for 
them,  as  well  as  for  the  rest  of  men.    He  then  said  mass. 

Three  days  after,  on  Easter  Sunday,  things  being  arranged 
in  the  same  manner  as  on  Thursday,  he  celebrated  the 
holy  mysteries  for  the  second  time,  and  by  these  two  sac- 
rifices, the  first  ever  offered  there  to  God,  he  took  possession 
of  that  land  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  gave  this  mis- 
sion the  name  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin. 

He  was  listened  to  with  universal  joy  and  approbation  by 
all  this  people,  who  earnestly  besought  him  to  return  as  soon 
as  possible  among  them,  since  his  malady  obliged  hirn  to 
leave  them.  The  father,  on  his  part,  showed  them  the  affec- 
tion he  bore  them,  his  satisfaction  at  their  conduct,  and  gave 
his  word  that  he  or  some  other  of  our  fathers  would  return  to 
continue  this  mission  so  happily  begun.  This  promise  he  re- 
peated again  and  again,  on  parting  with  them  to  begin  his 


IWI; 


fl" 


•  Words  addrcRsed  to  Indians,  -when  not  accompanied  by  a  wampum  belt, 
were  considered  unimportant;  and  the  missionary  wlio  first  annotmced  the  gos- 
pel in  a  village,  always  spoke  by  the  belt  of  the  prayer,  which  he  held  in  his 
hand,  and  which  remained  to  witness  his  words  when  the  sound  had  died 
oway. 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  YALLET. 


6T 


journey.  He  set  out  amid  such  marks  of  friendship  from 
these  good  people,  that  they  escorted  him  with  pomp  more 
than  thirty  leagues  of  the  way,  contending  with  one  another 
for  the  honor  of  carrying  his  little  baggage. 


SECTION   II. 

THE  FATHER  IS  COMPELLkD  TO  LEAVE  HIS  ILINOIS  MISSIOir.—HlS  LAST 
ILLNESS.— HIS  PRECIOUS  DEATH  AMID  THE  FORESTS. 

After  the  Ilinois  had  taken  leave  of  the  father,  filled  with 
a  great  idea  of  the  gospel,  he  continued  his  voyage,  and  soon 
after  reached  the  Ilinois  lake,  on  which  he  had  nearly  a  hun- 
dred leagues  to  make  by  an  unknown  route,  because  he  was 
obliged  to  take  the  southern  [eastern]  side  of  the  lake,  hav- 
ing gone  thither  by  the  northern  [western].  His  strength, 
however,  failed  so  much,  that  his  men  despaired  of  being 
able  to  carry  him  alive  to  their  journey's  end ;  for,  in  fact, 
he  became  so  weak  and  exhausted,  that  he  could  no  longer 
help  himself,  nor  even  stir,  and  had  to  b*^  handled  and  car- 
ried like  a  child. 

He  nevertheless  maintained  in  this  state  an  admirable  equa- 
nimity, joy,  and  gentleness,  consoling  his  beloved  companions, 
and  encouraging  them  to  suffer  courageously  all  the  hardships 
of  the  way,  assuring  them  that  our  Lord  would  not  forsake 
them  when  he  was  gone.  During  this  navigation  he  began 
to  prepare  more  particularly  for  death,  passing  his  time  in 
colloquies  with  our  Lord,  with  His  holy  mother,  with  his  an- 
gel-guardian, or  with  all  heaven.  He  was  often  heard  pro- 
nouncing these  words :  "  I  believe  that  my  Redeemer  liveth," 
or,  "  Mary,  mother  of  grace,  mother  of  God,  remember  me." 
Besides  a  spiritual  reading  made  for  him  every  day,  he  tow- 


I 


I  ! 


Wmi 


I 


'.13' 


58 


NABRATIVB  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


ard  the  cloee  asked  them  to  read  him  his  meditation  on  the 
preparation  for  death,  which  he  carried  about  him :  he  recited 
his  breviary  every  day ;  and  although  he  was  so  low,  that 
both  sight  and  strength  had  greatly  failed,  ho  did  not  omit  it 
till  the  last  day  of  his  life,  when  his  companions  induced  him 
to  cease,  as  it  was  shortening  his  days. 

A  week  before  his  death,  ho  had  the  precaution  to  bless 
some  holy  water,  to  serve  him  during  the  rest  of  his  illness, 
in  his  agony,  and  at  his  burial,  and  he  instructed  his  compan- 
ions how  to  use  it. 

The  eve  of  his  death,  which  was  a  Friday,  he  told  them,  all 
radiant  with  joy,  that  it  would  take  place  on  the  morrow. 
During  the  whole  day  he  conversed  with  them  about  the 
manner  of  his  burial,  the  way  in  which  he  should  be  laid  out, 
the  place  to  be  selected  for  his  interment ;  he  told  them  how 
to  arrange  his  hands,  feet,  and  face,  and  directed  them  to 
raise  a  cross  over  his  grave.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  enjoin 
them,  only  three  houre  before  he  expired,  to  take  his  chapel- 
bell,  as  soon  as  he  was  dead,  and  ring  it  while  they  carried 
him  to  the  grave.  Of  all  this  he  spoke  so  calmly  and  collect- 
edly, that  you  would  have  thought  that  he  spoke  of  the  death 
and  burial  of  another,  and  not  of  his  own. 

Thus  did  he  speak  with  them  as  they  sailed  along  the  lake, 
till,  perceiving  the  mouth  of  a  river,  with  an  eminence  on  the 
bank  which  he  thought  suited  for  his  burial,  he  told  them  that 
it  was  the  place  of  his  last  repose.  They  wished,  however,  to 
pass  on,  as  the  weather  permitted  it,  and  the  day  was  not  far 
advanced ;  but  God  raised  a  contrary  wind,  which  obliged 
them  to  return  and  enter  the  river  pointed  out  by  Father 
Marquette.* 

•  A  marginal  note  says,  "Tliis  river  now  bears  the  fs.ther's  name."  It  waa 
indeed  long  called  Marquette  river,  but  from  recent  maps  the  name  seems  to 


DIS0OVERIK8    IN  THE  MI88I88IPPI  VALLKT. 


0ft 


They  then  carried  him  ashore,  kindled  a  little  fire,  and 
raised  for  him  a  wretched  bark  cabin,  where  they  laid  him  as 
little  uncomfortably  as  they  could ;  but  they  were  so  overcome 
by  sadness,  that,  as  they  afterward  said,  they  did  not  know 
what  they  were  doing. 

The  father  being  thus  stretched  on  the  shore,  like  St. 
Francis  Xavier,  as  he  had  always  so  ardently  desired, 
and  left  alone  amid  those  forests — for  his  companions  were 
engaged  in  unloading — he  had  leisure  to  repeat  all  the 
acts  in  which  he  had  employed  himself  during  the  preceding 
days. 

When  his  dear  companions  afterward  came  up,  all  dejected, 
he  consoled  them,  and  gave  them  hopes  that  God  would  take 
care  of  them  aft^er  his  death  in  tl.  ^e  new  and  unknown  coun- 
tries ;  he  gave  tbem  his  last  instructions,  thanked  them  for 
all  the  charity  they  had  shown  him  during  the  voyage,  begged 
their  pardon  for  the  trouble  he  had  given  them,  and  directed 
them  also  to  ask  pardon  in  his  name  of  all  our  fathers  and 
brothers  in  the  Ottawa  country,  and  then  disposed  them  to 
receive  the  sacrament  of  penance,  which  he  administered  to 
them  for  the  last  time ;  he  also  gave  them  a  paper  on  which 
he  had  written  all  his  faults  since  his  last  confession,  to  be 
given  to  his  superior,  to  oblige  him  to  pray  more  earnestly  for 
him.    In  fine,  he  promised  not  to  forget  them  in  heaven,  and 
as  he  was  very  kind-hearted,  and  knew  them  to  be  worn  out 
with  the  toil  of  the  preceding  days,  he  bade  them  go  and  take 
a  little  rest,  assuring  them  that  his  hour  was  not  yet  so  near, 
but  that  he  would  wake  them  when  it  was  time,  as  in  fact  he 
did,  two  or  three  hours  after,  calling  them  when  about  to 
enter  his  agony. 

have  been  forgotten.  Its  Indian  name  is  Notispescago,  and  according  to  othens 
Aniniondibeganining.  It  is  a  very  small  stream,  not  more  than  fifteen  paces 
long,  being  the  outlet  of  a  small  lake,  as  Charlevoix  assures  us. 


eo 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTB. 


When  they  came  near  he  embraced  them  for  the  last  time, 
while  they  melted  in  tears  at  his  feet ;  he  then  asked  for  the 
holy  water  and  his  reliquary,  and  taking  off  his  cruciiSx 
which  he  wore  around  his  neck,  he  placed  it  in  the  hands  of 
one,  asking  him  to  hold  it  constantly  opposite  him,  raised  be- 
fore his  eyes ;  then  feeling  that  he  had  but  a  little  time  to 
live,  he  made  a  last  effoii;,  clasped  his  hands,  and  with  his 
eyes  fixed  sweetly  on  his  crucifix,  he  pronounced  aloud  his 
profession  of  faith,  and  thanked  the  Divine  Majesty  for  the 
immense  grace  he  did  him  in  allowing  him  to  die  in  the  so- 
ciety of  Jesus ;  to  die  in  it  as  a  missionary  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  above  all  to  die  in  it,  as  he  had  always  asked,  in  a 
wretched  cabin,  amid  the  forests,  destitute  of  all  human  aid. 

On  this  he  became  silent,  conversing  inwardly  with  God ; 
yet  from  time  to  time  words  escaped  him :  "  Sustinuit  anima 
mea  in  verba  ejus,"  or  "  Mater  Dei,  meiuento  mei,"  which 
were  the  last  words  he  uttered  before  entering  on  his  agony, 
which  was  veiy  calm  and  gentle. 

He  had  prayed  his  companions  to  remind  him,  when  they 
saw  him  about  to  expire,  to  pronounce  frequently  the  names 
of  Jesus  and  Mary.  When  he  could  not  do  it  himself,  they  did 
it  for  him ;  and  when  they  thought  him  about  to  pass,  one  cried 
aloud  Jesus  Maiia,  which  he  several  times  repeated  distinct- 
ly, and  then,  as  if  at  those  sacred  names  something  had  ap- 
peared to  him,  he  suddenly  raised  his  eyes  above  his  crucifix, 
fixing  them  apparently  on  some  object  which  he  seemed  to 
regard  with  pleasure,  and  thus  with  a  countenance  all  radiant 
with  smiles,  he  expired  without  a  struggle,  as  gently  as  if  he 
had  sunk  into  a  quiet  sleep. 

His  two  poor  companions,  after  shedding  many  tears  over 
his  body,  and  having  laid  it  out  as  he  had  directed,  carried 
it  devoutly  to  the  grave,  ringing  the  bell  according  to  his 


DI80OVBRIE8  IK  TRl!  UISSISSIPPI  VALLET. 


61 


injunction,  and  raised  a  large  cross  near  it  to  serve  as  a  mark 
for  passers-by. 

"Wlien  they  talked  of  embarking,  one  of  them,  who  for 
several  days  had  been  overwhelmed  with  sadness,  and  so 
racked  in  body  by  acute  pains  that  he  could  neither  eat  nor 
breathe  without  pain,  resolved,  while  his  companion  was  pre- 
paring all  for  embarkation,  to  go  to  the  grave  of  his  good 
father,  and  pray  him  to  intercede  for  him  with  the  glorions 
Virgin,  as  he  had  promised,  not  doubting  but  that  he  was 
already  in  heaven.  He  accordingly  knelt  down,  said  a  short 
prayer,  and  having  respectfully  taken  some  earth  from  the 
grave,  he  put  it  on  his  breast,  and  the  pain  immediately 
ceased ;  his  sadness  was  changed  into  a  joy,  which  continued 
during  the  rest  of  his  voyage. 


'*''" 


SECTION  III. 


WHAT  OCCVnRED  IV  THE  TRANSPORT  OF  THE  BONES  OP  THE  LATE  PATHEH 
MARQUETTE,  WHICH  WERE  TAKEN  VP  ON  THE  19 TH  OF  MAY,  16T7,  THE  ANNt 
VERSARY  OP  HIS  DEATH  TWO  YEARS  BEFORE.— SKETCH  OP  HIS  VIRTVES. 

God  did  not  choose  to  suffer  so  precious  a  deposite  to  remain 
unhonored  and  forgotten  amid  the  woods.  The  Kiskakon 
Indians,*  who,  for  the  last  ten  years,  publicly  professed  Christi- 

*  Of  the  Eiskakons  little  more  is  known  than  is  here  stated.  They  ar^  I 
think,  first  mentioned  in  a  letter  of  F  Allouez,  in  the  Relation  1666-67.  The 
name  Kiskakon  given  in  this  narrative,  and  the  Relation  of  1678-79  is,  I  sup- 
pose, the  longer  name  Kichkakoueiac  of  the  Relation  of  1672-73,  which  places 
them  at  that  time  near  Sault  St  Mary's,  the  Hurons  being  then  alone  at  Mack- 
inac. The  last  Relation  (1673-79)  states  their  number  then  at  1,300,  all  Chris- 
tians; they  subsequently  appear  in  collision  with  the  Iroquois,  but  are  soon  lost 
sight  of;  if  they  have  disappeared  from  the  nations,  it  was  not  in  their  infidelity; 
many,  we  may  trusty  were  faithful  to  the  graces  they  received,  and  if  they  have 
melted  away  before  our  encroachments^  it  is  a  reason  why  we  should  bless  the 
men  who  sought  to  save  their  souls  without  caring  whether  a  century  later  any 


f 


62 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATUEB  IIABQUETTE. 


\l 


anity  in  which  thoy  were  first  instructed  by  Father  Mar- 
quette, when  stationed  at  Lapointe  du  Saint  Esprit  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  Lake  Superior,  were  hunting  last  winter  on  the 
banks  of  Lake  Ilinois ;  and  as  they  were  returning  early  in 
spring,  they  resolved  to  pass  by  the  tomb  of  their  good 
father,  whom  they  tenderly  loved ;  and  God  even  gave  them 
the  thought  of  taking  his  remains  and  bringing  them  to  our 
church  at  the  mission  of  St.  Ignatius,  at  Missilimakinac,  where 
they  reside. 

They  accordingly  repaired  to  the  spot  and  deliberated  to- 
gether, resolved  to  act  with  their  father,  as  they  usually  do 
with  those  whom  they  respect ;  they  accordingly  opened  the 
grave,  unrolled  the  body,  and  though  the  flesh  and  intestines 
were  all  dried  up,  they  found  it  whole  without  the  skin  being 
in  any  way  injured.  This  did  not  prevent  their  dissecting  it 
according  to  custom ;  they  washed  the  bones,  and  dried  them 
in  the  sun,  then  putting  them  neatly  in  a  box  of  birch  bark, 
they  set  out  to  bear  them  to  the  house  of  St.  Ignatius. 

The  convoy  consisted  of  nearly  thirty  canoes  in  excellent 
order ;  including  even  a  good  number  of  Iroquois  who  had  joined 
our  Algonquins  to  honor  the  ceremony.  As  they  approached 
our  house.  Father  Nouvel,  who  is  superior,  went  to  meet  them 
with  Father  Pierson,*  accompanied  by  all  the  French  Indians 
of  the  place,  and  having  caused  the  convoy  to  stop,  made  the 
ordinary  interrogations  to  verify  the  fact,  that  the  body  which 

would  exist  to  show  the  endurance  of  their  labors.  It  has  been  justly  remarked 
of  the  catholic  missions  that,  "  they  ended  only  with  the  extinction  of  the  tribe." 
*  Father  Nouvel  was  the  Ottawa,  and  Father  Pierson  the  Huron  missionary. 
Each  nation  had  its  village  apart,  at  a  distance  of  three  quarters  of  a  league  from 
each  other.  Tlie  church  here  spoken  of  was  built  apparently  in  1674,  while 
F.  Marquette  was  there  {Eel.  1672-78,  and  1673-79) ;  it  lay  nearest  the  Huron  vil- 
lage, which  Hennepin  thus  describes:  "It  b  surrounded  with  palisades  twenty- 
five  feet  high,  and  situated  near  a  great  point  of  land  opposite  the  island  of 
Missilimakinac." — Description  de  la  Louiaiane,  p.  62. 


i''':! 


im 


DI80OVERIE8   IN  THE  MI88ISSIP1>I  TALLBT.  68 

they  bore  was  really  Father  Marquette's.  Then,  before  land- 
ing, he  intoned  the"De  Profundis"  in  sight  of  the  thirty 
canoes  still  on  the  water,  and  of  all  the  people  on  the  shores ; 
after  this  the  body  was  carried  to  the  church,  observing  all 
that  the  ritual  prescribes  for  such  ceremonies.  It  remained 
exposed  under  a  pall  stretched  as  if  over  a  coffin  all  that  day, 
which  was  Whitsun-Monday,  the  8th  of  Juno ;  and  the  next 
day,  when  all  the  funeral  honors  had  been  paid  it,  it  was  de- 
posited in  a  little  vault  in  the  middle  of  the  church,  where  be 
reposes  as  the  guardian  angel  of  our  Ottawa  missions.  The 
Indians  often  come  to  pray  on  his  tomb,  and  to  say  no  more, 
a  young  woman  of  about  nineteen  or  twenty,  whom  the  late 
father  had  instructed  and  baptized  last  year,  having  fallen 
sick,  asked  Father  Nouvel  to  bleed  her,  and  give  her  some 
remedies ;  but  in  place  of  medicine  he  bade  her  go  for  three 
days  and  say  a  pater  and  ave  on  the  tomb  of  Father  Marquette. 
She  did  so,  and  before  the  third  day,  was  entirely  cured  with- 
out bleeding  or  other  remedies. 

Father  James  Marquette,  of  the  province  of  Champagne, 
died  at  the  age  of  thu-ty-eight,  of  which  he  had  spent  twenty-one 
in  the  society,  namely  twelve  in  France,  and  nine  in  Canada. 
He  was  sent  to  the  missions  of  the  upper  Algonquins,  called 
Ottawas,  and  labored  there  with  all  the  zeal  that  could  be  ex- 
pected in  a  man  who  had  taken  St.  Francis  Xavier  as  the  model 
of  his  life  and  death.  He  imitated  that  great  saint,  not  only  in 
the  variety  of  the  barbarous  languages  which  he  learned,  but 
also  by  the  vastness  of  his  zeal  which  made  him  bear  the  faith 
to  the  extremity  of  this  new  world,  nearly  eight  hundred 
leagues  from  here,  in  forests  where  the  name  of  Jesus  had 
never  been  announced. 

He  always  begged  of  God  to  end  his  days  in  these  toilsome 
missions,  and  to  die  amid  the  woods  like  his  beloved  St. 


rlvf: 


'  '"  •'    '  'ii'j?'''! 


u 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQTJETTB. 


' 


i 


',M^'t'  ,^W(f^i 


Li 

$1 


m 


Francis  Xavier,  in  utter  want  of  everything.  To  attain  this 
he  daily  employed  the  merits  of  Christ  and  the  intercession 
of  the  Immaculate  Virgin,  for  whom  his  devotion  was  equally 
rare  and  tender. 

By  such  powerful  mediators,  he  obtained  what  he  so  earn- 
estly asked,  since  ho  had  the  happiness  to  die  like  the  apostle 
of  the  Indies,  in  a  wretched  cabin  on  the  banks  of  Lake 
Ilinois,  forsaken  by  all. 

"We  could  say  much  of  the  rare  virtues  of  this  generous  mis- 
sionary, of  his  zeal  which  made  him  carry  the  faith  so  far,  and 
announce  the  gospel  to  so  many  nations  unknown  to  us ;  of 
his  meekness  which  endeared  him  to  every  one,  and  which 
made  him  all  to  all — French  with  the  French,  Huron  with 
the  Hurons,  Algonquin  with  the  Algonquins ;  of  his  child- 
like candor  in  discovering  his  mind  to  his  superiors,  and 
even  to  all  persons  with  an  ingenuousness  that  gained  all 
hearts,  of  his  angelic  purity  and  continual  union  with  God. 

But  his  predominant  virtue  was  a  most  rare  and  singular 
devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  especially  to  the  mystery 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception ;  it  was  a  pleasure  to  hear  him 
preach  or  speak  on  this  subject.  Every  conversation  and  let- 
ter of  his  contained  something  about  the  Blessed  Virgin  Im- 
maculate, as  he  always  styled  her.  From  the  age  of  nine,  he 
fasted  every  Saturday ;  and  from  his  most  tender  youth  began 
to  recite  daily  the  little  office  of  the  Conception,  and  inspired 
all  to  adopt  this  devotion.  For  some  months  before  his  death, 
he  daily  recited,  with  his  two  men,  a  little  chaplet  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception,  which  he  had  arranged  in  this  form ;  after 
the  creed,  they  said  one  "  Our  Father  and  hail  Mary,"  then 
four  times  these  words :  "  Hail  daughter  of  God  the  Father, 
hail  mother  of  God  the  Son,  hail  spouse  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
hail  temple  of  the  whole  Trinity,  by  thy  holy  virginity  and 


DI800VEBIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


65 


immaculate  conception,  O  most  pure  Virgin,  cleanse  my  flesh 
and  my  heart.  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  last  of  all  the  "  Gloiy  be  to  the 
Father,"  &c.,  the  whole  being  thrice  repeated. 

He  never  failed  to  say  the  mass  of  the  Conception,  or  at 
least  the  collect,  whenever  he  could ;  he  thought  of  nothing 
else  scarcely  by  night  or  by  day,  and  to  leave  us  an  eternal 
mark  of  his  sentiments,  he  gave  the  name  of  the  Conception 
to  the  Ilinois  mission. 

So  tender  a  devotion  to  the  mother  of  God,  deserved  some 
singular  grace,  and  she  accordingly  granted  him  the  favor  he 
had  always  asked,  to  die  on  a  Saturday  ;*  and  his  two  com- 
panions had  no  doubt  that  she  appeared  to  him  at  the  hour  of 
his  death  when,  after  pronouncing  the  names  of  Jesus  and 
Mary,  he  suddenly  raised  his  eyes  above  his  crucifix,  fixing 
them  on  an  object  which  he  regarded  with  such  pleasure,  and 
a  joy  that  lit  up  his  countenance ;  and  they,  from  that  mo- 
ment, believed  that  he  had  surrendered  his  soul  into  the  hands 
of  his  good  mother. 

One  of  the  last  letters  which  he  wrote  to  the  superior  of  the 
missions  before  his  great  voyage,  will  be  a  sufficient  instance 
of  his  sentiments.    It  began  thus : — 

"  The  Blessed  Virgin  Immaculate  has  obtained  for  me  the 
grace  to  amve  here  in  good  health,  and  resolved  to  corre- 
spond to  God's  designs  upon  me,  since  he  has  destined  me  to 
the  voyage  to  the  south.  I  have  no  other  thought  than  to  do 
what  God  wills.  I  fear  nothing ;  neither  the  Nadouessii,  nor 
the  meeting  of  nations  alarms  me.  One  of  two  things  must 
come :  either  God  will  punish  me  for  my  crimes  and  omis- 
sions, or  else  he  will  share  his  cross  with  me  (for  I  have  not 

*  In  the  devotions  of  catholics^  Saturday  among  the  days  of  the  week,  like 
May  among  the  months,  is  especially  set  apart  to  honor  her  whom  Jesus  loved 
and  honored  as  a  mother. 


66 


NASBATIVE  OF  FATHER  ICABQXrETTI!. 


borne  it  yet  since  I  have  been  in  this  country,  though,  per- 
haps, it  has  been  obtained  for  me  by  the  Blessed  Virgin  Im- 
macalate),  or  perhaps  death  to  cease  to  offend  God.  For  this 
I  will  endeavor  to  hold  myself  ready,  abandoning  myself  en- 
tirely in  his  hands.  I  pray  your  reverence  not  to  forget  me, 
and  to  obtain  of  God,  that  I  may  not  remain  ungrateful  for 
the  favors  he  heaps  upon  me." 

There  was  found  among  his  papers  a  book  entitled,  "The 
Conduct  of  God  toward  a  Missionary,"  in  which  he  shows  the 
excellence  of  that  vocation,  the  advantages  for  self  sanctifica- 
tion  to  be  found  in  it,  and  the  care  which  God  takes  of  his 
gospel-laborers.  This  little  work  shows  the  spirit  of  God  by 
which  he  was  actuated. 


11 


}% 


ir 


M 


NARRATIVE 


All  ]    ■ 


or 


A  VOYAGE  MADE   TO  THE  ILINOIS, 


BT 


FATHER  CLAUDE ALLOTJEZ* 


SECTION  I. 

VA.TBEB.  ALLOUEZ  SETS  OUT  ON  THE  ICE.— A  YOUNO  XAN  KILLED  BY  A 
BEAR.—VENOEANCE  TAKEN.— VARIOUS  CURIOSITIES  ON  THE  WAY. 

WHILE  preparing  for  my  departure,  as  the  weather  was 
not  yet  suitable,  I  made  some  visits  in  the  bay  where 
I  baptized  two  sick  adults,  one  of  whom  died  next  day ;  the 
other  lived  a  month  longer ;  he  was  a  poor  old  man,  who 

*  't  Father  Claude  AUouez,  has  imperishablj  connected  his  name  with  the 
progress  of  discovery  in  the  west,"  says  Bancroft  Unhonored  among  us  now, 
he  was  not  inferior  in  zeal  or  ability  to  any  of  the  great  missionaries  of  his  time. 
He  is  not,  indeed,  encircled  with  that  halo  of  sanctity  which  characterizes  the 
first  Franciscan  and  Jesuit  missionaries  of  New  France,  nor  do  his  writings  dis- 
play the  learning  and  refinement  which  show  in  some  the  greatness  of  their  sac- 
rifice ;  but,  as  a  fearless  and  devoted  missionary,  one  faithful  to  his  high  calling; 
a  man  of  zeal  and  worth,  he  is  entitled  to  every  honor.  No  record  tells  us  the 
time  or  place  of  his  birth.  We  meet  him  first  as  a  Jesuit,  seeking  a  foreign  mis- 
sion. An  entry  in  his  journal  has  been  preserved,  in  which,  under  the  date  of 
March  3d,  1667,  he  expresses  his  rapture  on  receiving  permission  to  embark  for 
Canada.  That  he  was  not  led  by  any  erroneous  idea  of  the  field  which  he  solici- 
ted, we  know  by  his  own  words.  He  sought  only  to  labor  and  suffer ;  man  can 
not  command  results,  nor  will  his  reward  depend  upon  them.  "To  convert  our 
barbarians,  or  savages^  of  Canada,"  says  he,  "  we  need  work  no  miracle  but  that 


V. 

Si' 


68 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  ALLOUEZ. 


I 


being  decrepit  and  half  deaf,  was  the  langhing  stock  and  out- 
cast of  all,  even  of  his  children ;  but  God  did  not  cast  him 

of  doing  them  good,  and  suffering  without  complaint,  except  to  God,  regarding 
ourselves  as  useless  servants." 

He  sailed  from  Fronce  with  two  lay  brothers  in  the  vessel  which  took  out  the 
new  governor  Viscount  d'Argenson,  in  1658,  and  by  the  eleventh  of  July  arrived 
Bafely  at  Quebec.  Selected  for  the  Algonquin  missions,  he  soon  after  began  the 
study  of  the  Indian  languages.  In  the  following  year  he  sow  two  of  his  order, 
Garreau  and  Druilletes,  embark  for  Lake  Superior,  where  Father  Jogues  and 
Father  Raymbault  had  planted  the  cross  seventeen  years  before,  to  continue  the 
interrupted  work ;  but  one  was  killed,  the  other  abandoned  near  Montreal. 
When  made  superior  at  Three-Rivers,  in  1600,  he  saw  his  predecessor,  the  fear- 
less Rene  Menard,  depart  for  a  distint  goal,  to  die  amid  the  rocks  and  woods 
of  the  Menominee,  on  his  Way  to  Green  Bay.  This  field  of  toil  and  danger 
was  still  the  object  of  AUouez'  desires.  Destined  to  it  in  1664,  he  reached  Mon- 
treal, but  the  Ottawas  had  not  come  there  as  la^e  as  usual  He  had  now 
to  wait  another  year;  but»  with  him,  time  rolled  not  away  in  idleness;  a 
thorough  Algonquin,  not  unacquainted  with  Iroquois,  objects  of  zeal  were 
everywhere  to  be  found.  On  the  14th  of  May,  1665,  he  again  left  Quebec  to 
meet  them;  the  "Angels  of  the  upper  Algonquins"  at  last  orrive;  for  so  in 
his  desire  does  he  call  the  brutal  men  whose  cruel  treatment  of  the  previous 
missionaries  would  have  appalled  any  heart  not  borne  up  by  supernatural  mo- 
tives. On  the  Tth  of  August,  the  flotilla  finally  storted,  and  Allouez,  after  much 
suffering  and  ill-treatment,  dauntlessly  struggled  on,  and,  by  the  first  of  Septem- 
ber, was  at  Sault  St  Mary's.  Thrice  had  the  Jesuits  taken  possession  of  that 
spot  in  the  name  of  catholicity;  it  was  not  now  to  be  a  permanent  centre.  He 
did  not  stop  here ;  he  explored,  in  his  fraU  canoe,  the  whole  southern  shore  of 
the  vast  upper  lake,  whose  icy  waters  contrast  so  strangely  with  the  fantastic 
scenery  of  the  shore,  still  marked  by  the  traces  of  that  terrible  fire  which  shiv- 
ered its  crags  into  a  thousand  forms,  and  poured  the  molten  copper  over  them  as 
if  in  mockery  and  sport  His  first  mission  was  at  the  Outchibouec  (OjibVa,  or 
Chippeway)  village  of  Chegoimegon.  Here,  in  October,  rose  his  chapel,  dedi- 
cated to  the  Holy  Ghost  Some  Hurons  and  the  Algonquin  converts  of  Menard 
were  already  there ;  to  increase  the  number  of  the  faithful,  Allouez  entered  the 
arena  to  struggle  till  death,  with  the  wild  superstition  of  the  Ottawa.  Ten  or 
twelve  lake  tribes  were  assembled  at  once  in  council  at  the  spot  Pottawatomies^ 
Sacs,  Foxes,  and  even  Ilinois,  swelled  the  numbers  of  those  who  gathered  around 
that  lone  cross  of  the  wilderness,  with  nations  from  the  western  sea,  Dahcotahs; 
Assiniboins  and  Winnebagoes,  with  their  Tartar  dialect  and  thought  To  all 
these  he  announced  the  intolerant  faith  of  the  cross,  which  required  a  total  re- 
nunciation of  their  traditions,  an  unreserved  acceptance  of  its  dogmas.  Each 
tribe  departed  with  this  first  glimpse  of  truth,  prepared  to  receive  a  clear 
development  as  time  went  on.  And  now  came  tidings  that  touched  the  heart  of 
Allouez ;  on  a  lake  north  of  Superior,  were  gathered  some  Nipissings,  sad  rem- 
nants of  a  once  powerful  tribe,  but  now  like  the  Huron,  Christians  and  fugitives  bo- 


DISOOVEBIES  m  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


69 


out ;  he  did  him  the  grace  to  enrol  him  among  his  children 
hy  baptism,  and  to  receive  him  into  heaven,  as  I  have  every 
reason  to  believe. 

fore  the  face  of  the  Iroquois.  Menard  died  while  seeking  the  Huron ;  but  unnp- 
palled  by  aught,  Allouez  hastened  to  their  relief.  Scarcely  had  he  reached  Chegoi- 
megon  again,  in  1667,  when  a  flotilla  was  about  starting  for  Quebec;  he  em- 
barked to  secure  companions,  and  explain  to  his  superiors  the  vastness  of  the 
new  field  which  he  had  seen,  and  of  the  still  greater,  but  untried  one  which  lay 
along  the  mighty  "  Mes-sipi."  On  the  4th  of  August  he  reached  that  city,  the  6th 
embarked  again  for  the  west  witit  tiie  aid  he  needed.  Father  Louis  Nicholas),  and  a 
lay  brother  set  out  with  hitn.  Once  in  the  west,  he  resumed  his  toils,  as  though 
returned  from  a  voyage  of  pleasure,  and  st.'uggled  on  another  year  at  the  lake. 
Then  joined  by  Marquette  and  later  by  Dablon,  he  hastened  to  a  new  field.  He 
mounted  Fox  river  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xavier. 
In  1671,  the  great  council  of  the  French  commander,  with  the  Indians,  required 
the  presence  of  the  missionaries,  and  especially  of  Allouez,  at  the  Sault  St.  Mary's 
as  interpreters.  Nouvel  was  now  superior  of  the  western  missions,  and  from  him 
they  received  a  new  impulse.  Of  the  three  missionary  stations  now  established,  the 
Sault,  Mackinaw,  and  Green  Bay,  the  last  was  given  to  Allouez.  In  1672,  aided 
by  F.  Andre,  he  instructed  the  Foxes  and  Fire  nation,  and  again  ascended  Fox 
Kiver  to  Maskoutens  to  preach  to  the  Moskoutcns,  Miamis,  Kikapoos,  and  Ilinois, 
assembled  there.  As  he  descended,  he  threw  down  a  rude,  unshapely  rock, 
honored  at  Kakaling  by  the  adoration  of  the  benighted  Indian.  The  next  year 
he  was  stationed  at  St.  James,  or  Maskoutens,  where  he  planted  the  cross  as  the 
limit  of  his  discoveries  and  labors.  They  were  not  grateful  for  his  toil,  while 
superstition,  and  indifference  almost  neutralized  his  efforts.  With  the  Fox  and 
Pottawatomi,  he  was  more  successful.  In  the  following  years,  he  was  assisted 
by  F.  Silvy  and  F.  Bonneault,  and  met  with  greater  consolations. 

On  the  death  of  Marquette,  he  was  appointed  to  the  Ilinois  mission,  and  we 
now  publish  for  the  first  time,  the  account  of  his  journey.   This  visit  was  in  1676. 

Two  years  afterward,  he  repaired  to  it  once  more,  and  remained  till  the  fol- 
lowing year,  when  on  learning  the  approach  of  La  Salle,  he  retired,  as  that 
great  traveller  had  conceived  a  strong  prejudice  against  him,  in  consequence  of 
some  correspondence  between  him  and  his  fellow  missionary  on  the  Seneca 
country.  Father  Gamier.  La  Mothe,  La  Salle's  lieutenant,  had  even  required 
the  Seneca  sachems  to  cause  the  latter  to  leave  the  lodge  at  a  conference  be- 
tween them.  Allouez  cared  not  to  meet,  in  anger.  La  Salle,  whom  he  had  doubt- 
less known  in  France  before,  when  he  was  a  Jesuit  like  himself;  he  therefore  re- 
turned to  his  missions  in  Wisconsin  to  wait  till  the  mind  of  the  gifted  but  irri- 
table explorer  should  recover  from  its  false  impressions.  Unfortunately  it  proved 
the  reverse,  if  some  accounts  are  to  be  credited ;  La  Salle  implicated  him  in  some 
efforts  made  by  the  western  traders  to  excite  the  Ilinois  against  him.  To  clear 
Father  Allouez  of  this  charge,  we  need  no  better  proof  than  the  friendly  relations 
between  him  and  Tonty,  than  whom  there  was  surely  no  man  more  faithful  to 
the  interest  and  honor  of  La  Salle.    Allouez  went  to  Dinois  again  in  1684,  with 


ml 


70 


KABBATIVE  OF  FATHES  ALLOUEZ. 


In  another  visit  which  I  made  to  the  nation  of  the  Onta- 
gamies  (Foxes),  I  baptized  six  children  almost  all  at  the  point 
of  death.  I  was  much  consoled  to  see  a  marked  change  in 
the  mind  of  these  people ;  God  visits  them  by  his  scourges  to 
render  them  more  docile  to  our  instructions. 

After  these  excursions,  the  time  being  proper  for  departing, 
I  embarked  about  the  close  of  October,  1676,  in  a  canoe  with 
two  men  to  endeavor  to  go  and  winter  with  the  Dinois ;  but  I 
had  not  got  far  when  the  ice  prevented  us,  so  early  had  the 
winter  set  in.  This  obliged  us  to  lie  to  and  wait  till  it  was 
strong  enough  to  bear  us ;  and  it  was  only  in  February  that  we 
undertook  'i  very  extraordinary  kind  of  navigation,  for  instead 
of  putting  tiie  canoe  in  the  water,  we  put  it  on  the  ice,  on 
which  a  favorable  wind  carried  it  along  by  sails,  as  if  it  was 
was  on  water.  When  the  wind  failed  us,  instead  of  paddles, 
we  used  ropes  to  drag  it  as  horses  do  a  carriage.  Passing 
near  the  Pouteoiitamis,  I  learned  that  a  young  man  had  been 
lately  killed  by  the  bears.  I  had  previously  baptized  him  at 
Lapointe  du  St.  Esprit,  and  was  acquainted  with  his  parents ; 
this  obliged  me  to  turn  a  little  oif  my  way  to  go  and  console 
them.  They  told  me  that  the  beare  get  fat  in  the  fall  and  re- 
main so,  and  even  grow  fatter  during  the  whole  winter,  al- 
though they  do  not  eat  as  naturalists  have  remarked.    They 

Durantaye,  when  he  probably  remained  for  some  time.  He  was  there  in  1687, 
when  the  survivors  of  La  Salle's  last  expedition  reached  Fort  St.  Louis,  in 
ninois,  but  left  for  Mackinaw  on  the  arrival  of  F.  Anastasius  Douay,  and  M. 
Gavelier,  in  consequence  of  their  false  report  that  La  Salle  was  still  alive. 
Father  Allouez,  however,  still  clung  to  his  beloved  Ilinois  mission,  which  events 
had  thus  strangely  disturbed ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  think,  from  a  deed  which 
fell  into  my  hands,  that  he  was  at  Fort  St  Louis,  in  the  winter  of  1689.  If  so,  it 
was  his  last  visit  A  letter  dated  in  August,  1690,  details  the  virtues  of  the 
great  and  holy  missionary  of  the  west  He  had  gone  to  receive  the  reward  of 
his  labors. 

The  authorities  for  his  life  are  the  superior's  journal,  the  Relatiotu  from 
1668-'fl4  to  1671-"72;  MS.  Rel.  16'72-'78,  1673-'79,  1678;  MSS.  of  a  Jesuit^  in 
1690;  Joutel  and  Tontj^s  journals  published  in  JKst.  Coll,  ot  Zouitiana. 


DISOOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


n 


hide  in  hollow  trees,  especially  the  females,  to  bring  forth 
their  young,  or  else  they  lie  on  fir  branches  which  they  tear 
off  on  purpose  to  make  a  bed  on  the  snow,  which  they  do  not 
leave  all  winter,  unless  discovered  by  the  hunters,  and  their 
dogs  trained  to  this  chase.  This  young  man  having  discov- 
ered one  hidden  in  some  fir-branches,  fired  all  the  arrows  of 
his  quiver  at  him.  The  bear  feeling  himself  wounded, 
but  not  mortally,  rose,  rushed  upon  him,  clawed  off  his  scalp, 
and  tearing  out  his  bowels,  scattered  him  all  in  pieces  around. 
I  found  his  mother  in  deep  aifliction ;  we  offered  up  together 
prayers  for  the  deceased,  and  though  my  presence  had  at 
first  redoubled  her  grief,  she  wiped  away  her  tears,  saying 
for  consolation:  "Paulinus  is  dead;  that  good  Paulinus 
whom  thou  didst  always  come  to  call  to  prayer." 

Then  to  avenge,  as  they  said,  this  murder,  the  relatives  and 
friends  of  the  deceased  made  war  on  the  bears  while  they 
were  good — that  is,  during  the  winter;  for  in  summer  they 
are  lean,  and  so  famished,  that  they  eat  even  toads  and  snakes. 
The  war  was  so  vigorous,  that  in  a  little  while  they  killed 
more  than  five  hundred,  which  they  shared  with  us,  saying 
that  God  had  given  them  into  our  hands,  to  make  them  atone 
for  the  death  of  this  young  man  who  had  been  so  cruelly 
treated  by  one  of  their  nation. 

Twelve  leagues  from  the  Poiiteaoiiatami  town  we  entered 
a  very  deep  bay,  whence  we  transported  our  canoe  across  the 
wood  to  the  great  lake  of  the  Ilinois  [Michigan].  This  portage 
was  a  league  and  a  half.  On  the  eve  of  St.  Joseph,  the  pa- 
tron of  all  Canada,  finding  ourselves  on  the  lake,  we  gave  it 
the  name  of  that  great  saint,  and  shall  henceforth  call  it  Lake 
St.  Joseph.  "We  accordingly  embarked  on  the  23d  of  May, 
and  had  much  to  do  with  the  ice,  through  which  we  had  to 
break  a  passage.  The  water  was  so  cold,  that  it  froze  on  our 
oars,  and  on  the  side  of  the  canoe  which  the  sun  did  not  reach. 


72 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER  ALLOUEZ. 


It  pleased  God  to  deliver  us  from  the  danger  we  were  in  on 
landing,  when  a  gust  of  wind  drove  the  cakes  of  ice  on  one 
Bide  of  our  canoe,  and  the  other  on  the  ice  which  was  fast  to 
the  shore.  Our  great  trouble  was,  that  the  rivers  being  still 
frozen,  we  could  not  enter  them  till  the  3d  of  April.  "We 
consecrated  that  which  we  at  last  entered  in  holy  week  by 
planting  a  large  cross  on  the  shore,  in  order  that  the  Indians, 
who  go  there  in  numbers  to  hunt — either  in  canoes  on  the 
lake,  or  on  foot  in  the  woods — might  remember  the  instnic- 
tions  we  had  given  them  on  that  mystery,  and  that  the  sight 
of  it  might  excite  them  to  pray.  The  next  day  we  saw  a  rock 
seven  or  eight  feet  out  of  water,  and  two  or  three  fathoms 
around,  and  called  it  the  Pitch  rock.  In  fact,  we  saw  the 
pitch  running  down  in  little  drops  on  the  side  which  was 
warmed  by  the  sun.  "We  gathered  some,  and  found  it  good 
to  pitch  our  canoes,  and  I  even  use  it  to  seal  my  letters.* 
We  also  saw,  the  same  day,  another  rock,  a  little  smaller, 
part  in  and  part  out  of  water ;  the  part  washed  by  the  water 
was  of  a  very  bright  and  clear  red.  Some  days  after,  we 
saw  a  stream  running  from  a  hill,  the  waters  of  which  seemed 
mineral ;  the  sand  is  red,  and  the  Indians  said  it  came  from  a 
little  lake  where  they  have  found  pieces  of  copper. 

We  advanced  coasting  always  along  vast  prairies  that 
stretched  away  beyond  our  sight ;  from  time  to  time  we  saw 
trees,  but  so  ranged  that  they  seemed  planted  designedly  to 
form  alleys  more  agreeable  to  the  sight  than  those  of  orchards. 
The  foot  of  these  trees  is  often  watered  by  little  streams, 
where  we  saw  herds  of  stags  and  does  drinking  and  feeding 
quietly  on  the  young  grass.    "We  followed  these  vast  plains 


*  An  American  mineral,  resembling  asphaltum.  It  is  of  a  brown  color,  in- 
clining to  black,  and  sometimes  bo  liquid  that  it  flows  in  a  stream  down  tbe 
rides  of  this  rock. — ^F. 


DISOOVBBIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


19 


for  twenty  leagues,  and  often  said, ''  Benedicite  opera  Domini 
Domino." 

After  making  seventy-six  leagues  on  Lake  St.  Joseph,  we 
at  last  entered  the  river  which  leads  to  the  Ilinois.  I  here 
met  eighty  Indians  of  the  country,  by  whom  I  was  hand- 
somely received.  The  chief  advanced  about  thirty  steps  to 
meet  me,  holding  in  one  hand  a  firebrand  and  in  the  other  a 
feathered  calumet.  As  he  drew  near,  he  raised  it  to  my 
mouth,  and  himself  lit  the  tobacco,  which  obliged  me  to  pre- 
tend to  smoke.  He  then  led  me  into  his  cabin,  and,  giving 
me  the  most  honorable  place,  addressed  me  thus : — 

"  Father !  take  pity  on  me :  let  me  return  with  thee,  to  ac- 
company thee  and  lead  thee  to  my  village ;  my  meeting  with 
thee  to-day  will  be  fatal  to  me,  unless  I  profit  by  it.  Thou 
bearest  to  us  the  gospel  and  the  prayer :  if  I  lose  the  occasion 
of  hearing  thee,  I  shall  be  punished  by  the  loss  of  my  neph- 
ews, whom  thou  seest  so  numerous,  but  who  will  assuredly  be 
defeated  by  the  enemy.  Embark,  then,  with  us,  that  I  may 
profit  by  thy  coming  into  our  land." 

With  these  words  he  embarked  at  the  same  time  as  our- 
selves, and  we  soon  after  reached  his  village. 


Hi 


w 


KARBATIVE  OF  FATHER  ALLOUBZ. 


SECTION    II. 


11  *i' 


f 


FATHER  ALLOVEZ  ARRIVES  AT  THE  lUNOIS  T0WS.—DE8CBIPTI0S  OF  IT  jUTD 
THE  COUNTRY.— THE  FAITH  PROCLAIMED  TO  ALL  THESE  NATIONS. 

In  spito  of  all  our  efforts  to  hasten  on,  it  was  the  27th 
of  April,  before  I  could  reach  Kachkachkia,  a  large  Ilinois 
town.  I  immediately  entered  the  cabin  where  Father  Mar- 
quette had  lodged,  and  the  sachems  with  all  the  people  being 
assembled,  I  told  them  the  object  of  my  coming  among  them, 
namely,  to  preach  to  them  the  true,  living,  and  immortal 
God,  and  his  only  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  They  listened  very  at- 
tentively to  my  whole  discourse,  and  thanked  me  for  the 
trouble  I  took  for  their  salvation. 

I  found  this  village  mucli  increased  since  last  year.  It  was 
before  composed  of  only  one  nation,  the  Kachkachkia.  There 
are  now  eight ;  the  first  having  called  the  others  who  dwelt 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Missipi.  You  could  not  easily 
form  an  idea  of  the  number  of  Indians  who  compose  this  town ; 
they  are  lodged  in  three  hundred  and  fifty-one  cabins,  easily 
counted,  for  they  are  mostly  ranged  on  the  banks  of  the  river. 

The  place  which  they  have  selected  for  their  abode  is  situ- 
ated at  40°  42' ;  it  has  on  one  side  a  prairie  of  vast  extent, 
and  on  the  other  an  expanse  of  marsh  which  makes  the  air 
unhealthy,  and  often  loaded  with  mists ;  this  causes  much 
sickness  and  frequent  thunder.  They,  however,  like  this  post, 
because  from  it  they  can  easily  discover  their  enemies.* 

*  This  and  the  position  assigned  to  the  town  of  the  Eoskaskias  (40"*  42')  would 
bring  it  near  Roekfort^  making  allowance  for  the  old  latitude.  When  Father 
Marquette  first  visited  it,  he  found  seventy-four  cabins :  this  was  in  1673.  The 
next  year  it  had  increased  to  five  or  six  hundred  firea,  which,  at  the  rate  of 
four  fires  to  a  cabin,  gives  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  cabins,  with 
a  population  of  two  thousand  men,  besides  women  and  children.  Father  Alloues 
visiting  it  now  in  1677,  is  very  exact,  and  gives  the  number  of  cabins  as  three 


DISOOVEBIES   IK   THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


75 


These  Indians  are  in  character  hardy,  prond,  and  valiant. 
They  are  at  war  with  eight  or  nine  tribes ;  th«^y  do  not  use 
fire-arms,  as  they  find  them  too  awkward,  and  too  slow; 
they  carry  them,  however,  when  they  march  against  nations 
unacquainted  with  their  use,  to  terrify  them  by  the  noise, 
and  thus  rout  them.  They  ordinarily  carry  only  the  war- 
club,  bow,  and  a  quiver  full  of  arrows,  which  they  discharge  so 
adroitly  and  quickly,  that  men  armed  with  guns,  have  hardly 
time  to  raise  them  to  the  shoulder.  They  also  carry  a  large 
buckler  made  of  skins  of  wild  cattle ;  which  is  arrow-proof, 
and  covers  the  whole  body. 

They  have  many  wives,  of  whom  they  are  extremely  jeal- 
ous, leaving  them  on  the  least  suspicion.  The  women  usually 
behave  well,  and  are  modestly  dressed,  though  the  men  are 
not,  having  no  shame  of  their  nakedness. 

They  live  on  Indian  corn,  and  other  fruits  of  the  earth, 
which  they  cultivate  on  the  prairies,  like  other  Indians.  They 
eat  fourteen  kinds  of  roots  which  they  find  in  the  prairies ; 
they  made  me  eat  them ;  I  found  them  good  and  very  sweet. 
They  gather,  on  trees  or  plants,  fruits  of  forty-two  different 
kinds,  which  are  excellent ;  they  catch  twenty-five  kinds  of 
fish,  including  eels.    They  hunt  cattle,  deer,  turkeys,  cats,  a 


hundred  and  fifty-one.  In  1680,  the  Recollect  Father  MembrS  eetimates  the 
population  of  the  great  village  at  seven  or  eight  thousand,  in  four  or  five  hundred 
cabins — this  did  not  include  the  Kaskaskias,  whom  he  seems  to  place  on  the 
Chicago  river.  Hennepin,  at  the  same  time,  estimates  it  at  "  four  hundred  and 
sixty  cabins,  made  like  long  bowers,  covered  with  double  mats  of  flat  rushes,  so 
well  sowed  as  to  be  impenetrable  to  wind,  snow,  and  rain.  Each  cabin  has  four 
or  five  fires,  and  each  fire  one  or  two  families."— (p.  137.)  It  would  seem,  then, 
that  Bancroft  rejects  too  lightly  the  estimate  given  by  Father  Rale,  in  the  Lettrea 
Hdifiantes,  where  he  estimates  their  number  at  three  hundred  cabins,  each  of 
four  or  five  fires,  and  two  families  to  a  fire.  When  their  decadence  began,  they 
disappeared  with  great  rapidity.  Charlevoix,  in  1721,  makes  their  number  then 
to  have  been  very  inconsiderable,  although  ho  gives  no  estimate  of  the  population 
of  the  Illinois,  who  still  formed  five  distinct  villages.  At  present,  the  remnant 
of  the  tribe  does  not  comprise  a  hundred  souls,  yet  all  who  remain  are  Christiana, 


^t 


(I 


■  1 .1 


n 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER   ALLOUEZ. 


ft^  [ 

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kind  of  tiger,  and  other  animals,  of  whieli  they  reckon  twenty- 
two  kinds,  and  forty  kinds  of  game  and  birds.  In  the  lower 
pftrt  of  the  river  there  are,  I  am  told,  salt  springs,  from  which 
tbey  make  salt ;  I  can  not  speak  from  my  own  experience. 
They  assure  me,  too,  that  there  are  quarries  near  their  town 
of  slate  as  fine  as  ours.  I  have  seen  here,  as  in  the  Ottawa 
country,  copper,  found  here  as  elsewhere,  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  in  lumps.  They  tell  me  too,  that  there  are  rocks  of 
pitch  like  that  I  saw  on  the  banks  of  Lake  St.  Joseph.  The 
Indians  cut  it  and  find  silvery  veins,  which,  when  pounded, 
give  a  fine  red  paint.  They  also  find  other  veins,  from  which 
the  pitch  runs ;  when  thrown  in  the  fire,  it  burns  like  ours. 

This  is  all  that  I  could  remark  in  this  country,  during  the 
short  stay  I  made  there.  I  will  now  tell  wliat  I  did  for 
Christianity. 

As  I  had  but  little  time  to  remain,  having  come  only  to  ac- 
quire the  necessary  information  for  the  perfect  establishment 
of  a  mission,  I  innnediately  set  to  work  to  give  all  the  instruc- 
tion I  could  to  these  eight  different  nations,  by  whom,  by  the 
help  of  God,  I  made  myself  suflSciently  understood. 

I  would  go  to  the  cabin  of  the  chief  of  the  particular  tribe 
that  I  wished  to  instruct,  and  there  preparing  a  little  altar  with 
my  chapel  ornaments,  I  exposed  a  crucifix,  before  which  I 
explained  the  mysteries  of  our  faith.  I  could  not  desire  a 
greater  number  of  auditors,  nor  a  more  favorable  attention. 
They  brought  me  their  youngest  children  to  bo  baptized,  those 
older,  to  be  instructed.  They  repeated  themselves  all  the 
prayers  that  I  taught  them.  In  a  word,  after  I  had  done  the 
same  in  all  the  eight  nations,  I  had  the  consolation  of  seeing 
Christ  acknowledged  by  so  many  tribes,  who  needed  only 
careful  cultivation  to  become  good  Christians.  This  we  hope 
to  give  hereafter,  at  leisure. 


DIB0OVERIK8   IN  THE  MtB8I88IPri  VALLEY. 


11 


I  laid  the  foundation  of  this  mission  by  the  baptism  of 
thirty-five  children,  and  a  sick  adult,  who  soon  after  died,  with 
one  of  the  infants,  to  go  and  take  possession  of  heaven  in  the 
name  of  the  whole  nation.  And  we  too,  to  take  possession 
of  these  tribes  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  on  the  3d  of  May, 
the  feast  of  the  Holy  Cross,  erected  in  the  midst  of  the  town 
a  cross  twenty-five  feet  high,  chanting  the  Vexilla  Regis  in 
the  presence  of  a  great  number  of  Ilinois  of  all  tribes,  of 
whom  I  can  say,  in  truth,  that  they  did  not  take  Jesus  Christ 
crucified  for  a  folly,  nor  for  a  scandal ;  on  the  contrary,  they 
witnessed  the  ceremony  with  great  respect,  and  heard  all  that 
I  said  on  the  mystery  with  admiration.  The  children  even 
went  to  kiss  the  cross  through  devotion,  and  the  old  earnestly 
commended  me  to  place  it  well  so  that  it  could  not  fall. 

The  time  of  my  departure  having  come,  I  took  leave  of  all 
these  tribes,  and  left  them  in  a  great  desire  of  seeing  me  as 
soon  as  possible,  which  I  more  willingly  induced  them  to  ex- 
pect ;  as,  on  the  one  hand,  I  have  reason  to  thank  God  for 
the  little  crosses  he  has  afforded  me  in  this  voyage,  and  on 
the  other,  I  see  the  harvest  all  ready  and  very  abundant. 
The  devil  will,  doubtless,  oppose  us,  and  perhaps  will,  for  the 
purpose,  use  the  war  which  the  Iroquois  seek  to  make  on  the 
Ilinois.  I  pray  our  Lord  to  avert  it,  that  so  fair  a  beginning 
be  not  entirely  ruined. 

"  The  next  year,  namely,  1678,  Father  AUouez  set  out  to 
return  to  this  mission,  and  to  remain  there  two  years  in  suc- 
cession, to  labor  more  solidly  for  the  conversioi\of  these  tribes. 
"We  have  since  learned  that  the  Iroquois  made  an  incursion 
as  far  as  there,  but  were  beaten  by  the  Ilinois.  This  will  go 
far  to  enkindle  the  war  between  these  nations,  and  do  much  to 
injure  this  mission,  if  God  does  not  interpose."* 

*  The  concluding  paragraph  of  this  narrative  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Father 
CSaude  Dablon,  the  superior  of  the  missions  at  the  time. 


U  ii  ra* 


m 


j}'' ' 


rr 


'^'dm 


■  A 


iti 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE 


OF 


THE   "ETABLISSEMENT   PE   LA   FOI," 


BY 


FATHER  CHRISTIAN  LE  CLERCQ,  RECOLLECT. 


m 


Tms  curious  and  now  rare  work  is  the  source  whence  all  the  following  narra- 
tives, except  Hennepin's,  are  drawn.  It  was  published  at  Paris,  by  Aimnble 
Auroj,  in  1691,  with  the  following  very  comprehensive  title:  "First  Establish- 
ment of  the  Faith  in  New  France,  containing  the  Publication  of  the  Gospel,  the 
History  of  the  French  Colonies,  and  the  famous  Discoveries  from  the  Mouth  of 
the  St  Lawrence,  Louisiana,  and  the  River  Colbert,  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  accom- 
plished under  the  Direction  of  the  late  Monsieur  de  la  Salic,  by  Order  of  the 
King,  with  the  Victories  gained  in  Canada,  by  the  Arms  of  his  Majesty  over  the 
English  and  Iroquois,  in  1690.  Dedicated  to  M.  de  Comte  de  Frontenac,  Gov- 
ernor and  Lieutenant-Gcneral  of  New  France,  by  Father  Christian  le  Clercq, 
Recollect  Missionary  of  the  Province  of  St  Anthony  of  Padua,  in  Arthois,  and 
Warden  of  the  Recollects  of  Lens." 

Of  Father  le  Clercq,  under  whose  name  the  work  is  thus  published,  we  know 
little  beyond  what  we  glean  from  this  work,  and  from  his  Relation  de  Gaspesic. 
He  was  a  zealous  and  devout  missionary  on  the  wild  coast  of  Gasp^,  where  he 
lived  in  roost  cordial  and  friendly  relations  with  the  neighboring  Jesuit  mission- 
aries, especially  with  Father  Bigot,  who  speaks  of  him  in  the  highest  terms,  as 
le  Clercq  did  of  him  and  his  labors,  Do  was  the  first  novice  of  the  province  to 
which  be  belonged,  and  one  of  the  first  religious  sent  by  it  to  Canada,  in  1676. 
After  spending  five  years  as  missionary  at  Isle  Perc^e  and  Gasp^,  he  returned 
to  Europe,  was  concerned  in  the  establishment  of  a  church  and  mission  at 
Montreal,  resumed  for  a  time  his  missionary  career,  and  was  subsequently  em- 
ployed as  superior  in  France.  His  Relation  de  Ga»pem  is  a  description  of  his 
own  field  and  his  own  labors;  the  Etablittement  assumes  to  be  a  general  history 
of  religion  in  Canada,  and  of  La  Salle's  voyage^  as  tending  to  the  establishment 
of  missions.    How  far  it  realizes  the  promise  of  the  title-page,  we  shall  soon  see. 

Had  this  work  been  a  mere  satirical  pamphlet^  we  could  at  once  understand 
it,  and  give  it  its  proper  value ;  but  in  this  light  it  can  not  be  regarded ;  it  con- 
tains much  historical  information,  especially  with  respect  to  La  Salle,  being  the 


NOTICE  ON  FATHER  LE  OLEBCQ. 


19 


first  printed  account  of  his  voyage  down  the  Mississippi,  and  his  lust  fatal  at- 
tempt  A  striking  feature  in  the  work  is  its  literary  skepticism,  as  to  a  great 
mass  of  early  works  on  Canada,  and  the  similar  doubts  raised  subsequently  as 
to  the  Etablissement  itself.  Le  Clercq,  or  the  real  author,  doubts  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  Relation  of  1626,  ascribed  to  F.  Charles  Lalemant  The  ground  uf 
this  doubt  is  completely  destroyed  by  the  title  of  one  of  the  chapters  in  Sagard's 
larger  work ;  the  doubt  has,  however,  been  raised  within  the  lost  few  years  by 
men  of  research,  though  probably  from  want  of  a  close  study  of  the  doubting 
humor  of  the  author.  Having  thus  thrown  a  slur  on  the  first  Belation,  he  next 
brings  the  whole  forty  volumes  of  Relations,  from  1632  to  1672,  into  the  same 
category,  because,  forsooth,  from  his  high  respect  for  the  Jesuits,  he  can  not  be- 
lieve they  ever  wrote  them ;  and,  finally.  Father  Marquette's  published  journal, 
which  is,  however,  never  ascribed  to  him,  is  treated  as  an  imposture,  and  his 
voyage  as  pretended,  on  every  possible  occasion. 

This  wholesale  skepticism  almost  entitles  him  to  a  place  with  the  celebrated 
Father  Hardouin,  who  believed  all  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics  to  be  forgeries. 
In  a  work  like  this, 'intended  to  show  the  validity  of  Marquette's  claim,  we 
must  examine  these  doubts,  and  the  person  who  makes  them.  Joutel,  who  con- 
tradicts the  Etablissement  pointedly  in  several  places,  says  that  it  was  com- 
posed on  false  relations,  and  thus  gives  some  force  to  a  charge  brought  in  1697, 
by  the  strange  Hennepin,  who  asserts  broadly  that  the  Etablissement  was  pub- 
lished by  Father  Valentine  le  Roux,  under  the  borrowed  name  of  le  Clercq ;  and 
he  chaises  that  the  so-called  narrative  of  Membr^  in  the  work,  is  really  a  tran- 
script of  the  journal  of  his  great  voyni^e  down  the  Mississippi,  a  copy  of  which 
he  had  left  in  le  Roux's  hands  at  Qii  bee.  At  a  still  later  date,  when  all  had 
become  calm,  Charlevoix  states  it  as  a  common  impression  that  Frontenac  him- 
self had  a  considei*able  hand  in  it.  When  with  all  this  we  remember  that  the 
first  published  narrative  of  Tonty  is  regarded  as  spurious,  and  that  Mr.  Sparks 
has  irrefrogably  shown  Hennepin's  later  works  to  be  mere  romances  and  literary 
thefts;  the  whole  series  of  works  relative  to  La  Salle  seems  drawn  up  or 
moulded  to  suit  some  party  views,  and  to  unravel  the  whole,  we  must  examine 
what  parties  at  the  time  agitated  Canada.  We  find  immediately  that  the  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  authorities  were  then  completely  at  variance,  chiefly  from  two 
causes :  The  first  was  what  may  be  called  the  brandy  war,  in  which  Bishop  La- 
val seeing  the  injury  done  to  the  Indians  by  the  sale  of  liquor,  had  pronounced 
ecclesiastical  censures  against  those  who  carried  on  the  nefarious  trafiic :  his 
clergy,  and  especially  the  Jesuits,  sided  with  him  and  his  successor  entirely  on 
this  pointy  as  being  better  able  from  daily  intercourse  to  see  the  ruin  of  the  na- 
tive tribes  by  the  use  of  spirituous  liquors.  But  if  the  ecclesiastical  authoritiea 
pronounced  censures,  the  civil  officers  were  not  slow  in  taking  up  most  curious 
modes  of  revenge ;  and  ridicule,  above  all,  was  brought  to  play  upon  their  an- 
tagonists. So  far  had  public  opinion  become  vitiated,  that  in  a  memoir  drawn 
up  apparently  by  the  intendant  Duchesneau  with  regard  to  the  Indian  village 
of  Caughnawaga,  the  writer  addressing  the  French  court,  deemed  it  necessary 
to  defend  the  Jesuit  missionaries  against  the  charge  of  proventing  the  erection 
of  any  tavern  on  their  lands  at  Laprairie,  in  the  vicinity  of  their  Indian  village! 
The  only  defence  made  is  more  curious;  it  admits  the  fact,  but  denies  the  neces- 


:s;l 


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80 


NOTICE  ON  FATHER  LE  OLERCQ. 


,  III  'm,' 


Fviii 


Bity  of  taverns  there,  as  Montreal  was  full  of  them.  In  this  brand"  war,  the 
Jesuits  being  in  charge  of  the  missions,  were  chiefly  attacked,  and  soon  after  a 
new  chaise  was  made  against  them  perscnally.  2.  Frontenac  especially  insisted 
that  Indian  villages  apart  would  never  result  in  civilizing  the  natives ;  his  plan 
■was  a  complete  fusion  of  the  two  races,  by  bringing  them  into  peifect  conisct 
The  missionaries  convinced  that  Indians  living  among  the  whit<ts  were  irrecov- 
erably lost,  adhered  pertinaciously  to  their  original  system  of  separate  villages 
and  gradual  advancement  Frontenac's  theory  is  much  upheld  by  the  Etablisse- 
ment;  and  many  arguments  are  adduced  in  favor  of  this  plan  which  is  assumed 
to  be  that  of  the  early  Recollects ;  but  he  startles  us  not  a  little,  and  somewhat 
unseats  our  gravity,  when  he  tells  us  that  it  had  been  carried  out  with  perfect 
success  in  the  neighboring  English  and  Dutch  colonies ;  though,  unfortunately, 
he  does  not  tell  us  what  New  York  or  New  England  half-breed  village  resulted 
from  the  union. 

But  to  return  to  ancient  politics.  Religion  was  at  that  time  upheld  by  pop- 
ular opinion ;  a  man  in  rank  or  oflice  had  to  practise  his  religious  duties ;  in- 
deed, he  never  thought  of  not  doing  so.  Now  these  duties  in  the  catholic 
church  are  something  very  positive  indeed,  and  many  in  Canada  found  them- 
selves under  ecclesiastical  censures  for  trading  in  liquor  with  the  Indians,  and 
saw  no  other  alternative  but  that  of  renouncing  a  lucrative  traffic,  unless,  in- 
deed they  could  find  more  lenient  confessors.  A  party  now  called  for  the  return 
of  the  Recollects  as  earnestly  as  they  had  opposed  it,  when  they  deemed  them 
too  expensive.  Le  Clercq  states  this  ground  of  recall  without  a  word  of  cen- 
sure; the  Recollects  returned,  became  the  fashionable  confessors,  and  were 
stationed  at  trading  points.  In  this  way  they  became  involved  in  existing  dis- 
putes, and  favored  by  and  favoring  Frontenac,  found  themselves  arrayed  in  a 
manner  against  the  rest  of  the  clergy.  A  general  charge  made  about  the  time 
seems  to  have  been,  that  the  Jesuits  had  really  made  no  discoveries,  and  no 
progress  in  converting  the  natives.  With  this  as  a  principle,  it  would  not  do  to 
allow  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  to  be  ascribed  wholly  or  in  part  to  one  of 
the  missionaries  of  that  society ;  hence  a  work  dedicated  to  Frontenac  must  nat- 
urally be  a  eulogy  of  his  ideas  and  his  friends,  and  a  well-directed  attack  on 
his  enemies.  It  must  be,  and  be  expected  to  be,  a  party  affair.  When  then  we 
attack  this  work,  it  will  be  simply  as  to  these  matters;  in  an  historical  point  of 
view,  as  faithful  to  the  documents  on  which  it  professes  to  be  founded,  it  has^  I 
believe,  never  been  called  in  question.  It  is  a  well-written  history  of  the  Rec- 
ollect missions  and  La  Salle's  voyages,  the  rest  is  satire. 

The  work  itself  consists  of  three  parts :  the  first  in  substance  an  abridgment 
of  Sagord,  for  the  first  period  of  French  rule  in  Canada,  down  to  the  capture  of 
Quebec  by  1629,  contains  some  new  facts  derived  from  manuscripts,  and  es- 
pecially from  those  of  the  great  le  Caron,  the  founder  of  the  Huron  missions. 
The  English  carried  off  both  the  Recollects  and  the  Jesuits  whom  they  had  in- 
vited to  aid  them ;  but  as  the  restoration  of  Canada  was  expected,  both  pre- 
pared for  a  speedy  return.  For  some  reason,  however,  the  French  government 
determined  to  send  out  another  missionary  body,  and  offered  Canada  to  the 
Capuchins,  like  the  Recollects,  a  branch  of  the  great  Franciscan  order.  The 
Capuchins,  however,  declined  i<^  and  recommended  the  Jesuite^  who  were  ao- 


NOTICE  ON  FATHEB   LE  OLEBOQ. 


cordingly  sent,  and  the  Recollects  cxclnded.  This  was  their  first  grief,  and  the 
Tolume  before  us  details  their  unavailing  efforts  to  return,  and  the  suspicions 
entertained  of  opposition,  or  at  least  of  lukewarmness,  on  the  part  of  the  Jesuitsi 
They  are,  indeed,  exculpated,  but  the  charge  is  constantly  renewed.  With  this 
on  his  heart,  le  Clercq  proceeds  to  the  second  part,  that  of  the  Jesuit  missions: 
and  here  he  doubts  the  authenticity  of  all  their  Relations,  and  treats  the  mis- 
sions  they  describe  as  chimerical.  In  this  pretended  account  of  the  progress 
of  Christianity  during  the  period  in  question,  there  is  no  historical  order  pre- 
served, no  mention  is  made  of  the  Huron  missions,  their  rise  and  '1  with  the 
nation,  and  the  death  of  the  various  missionaries  whose  last  mome  '.  are  a  suf- 
ficient proof  of  their  sincerity  in  the  accounts  which  they  had  given.  Of  the 
Algonquin  and  Montagnais  missions,  and  their  almost  entire  destruction  by  sick- 
ness and  war,  no  notice  is  taken ;  and  what  is  said  of  the  Iroquois  is  so  garbled, 
that  it  were  better  unsaid. 

No  missionary  ever  could  have  written  this  part;  or,  if  he  did,  he  must  be 
content  to  rani,  below  Hennepin.  One  instance  will  show  the  spirit  of  tliis  por- 
tion. Speaking  of  the  mission  in  New- York,  in  165.5-58,  he  mentions  the  fact 
that  Menard,  at  Cayuga,  baptized  four  hundred;  and  adds,  "Christianity  must 
have  advanced  each  year  by  still  more  happy  and  multiplied  progress,  and  con- 
icquently  all  these  people  must  he  converted."  Then,  as  he  finds  the  mass  of  the 
Iroquois  in  1690,  as  we  find  them  in  1850,  pagans,  he  concludes  that  the  ac- 
counts of  the  missions  are  false.  Now,  in  the  first  place,  the  period  of  mis- 
sionary effort  in  New  York  enibrnces  only  the  periods  from  1655  to  1658,  and 
from  1667  to  1685;  in  all,  not  more  than  twenty  years,  with  a  few  visits  at  in- 
tervals before  and  after  these  dates;  in  1690,  there  was  no  missionary  in  New 
York  save  Father  Milet>  who  had  just  been  dragged  to  Oneida  as  a  prisoner 
taken  at  Fort  Frontenac.  And  as  to  baptisms,  no  fact  is  more  clearly  stated  in 
early  writers,  the  Relations,  and  all  others,  than  this,  that  the  baptisms  were 
chiefly  those  of  dying  children  and  adults.  Among  the  Iroquois  tliere  were, 
indeed,  children  of  Christian  Ilurons,  who  could  bo  baptized  in  health,  but  only 
there.  Hence  the  baptisms  gave  a  very  slight  increase  to  the  number  of  living 
neophytes,  and  in  time  of  epidemics,  a  very  great  number  might  be  baptized, 
and  yet  the  church  lose  in  point  of  numbers.  To  begin  then  by  assuming  that 
400  baptisms  gave  as  many  living  members,  and  that  ten  times  as  many  gave 
4,000  is  a  ]>uerility  in  one  who  is  not  much  acquainted  with  the  matter,  but  a 
gross  deceit  in  one  who  is. 

The  second  part  then  is  not  to  be  considered  as  historical ;  it  notices,  indeed, 
the  coming  of  the  Ursuline  and  Hospital  nuns,  of  the  Sulpitians  and  the  bishop; 
bnt  even  for  these  we  must  go  elsewhere  for  a  cle  i'.  account. 

The  third  part  stands  on  a  different  footing;  it  is  mainly  historical,  and 
though  marked  by  the  prevailing  prejudice,  and  as  we  shall  show  by  gross  injus- 
tice to  Marquette  and  Joliet,  is,  undoubtedly,  the  best  account  of  La  Salle's 
voyages,  and,  for  some  parts,  the  only  one  we  have.  It  is,  too,  an  account  ■'f 
the  rise  and  progress  of  the  second  Recollect  missions,  in  a  very  brief  form, 
which,  with  the  mass  of  manuscripts  of  the  time,  gives  rich  materials  for  Cana- 
dian history.  All  that  relates  to  La  Salle  is  given  in  the  present  volume,  for 
the  first  time,  we  believe,  in  English.    The  remaining  portion  of  Le  Clercq  ii^ 


K 


.1  **>i'lp« 


4 


'Wi 


82 


KOTIOi:  ON  FATHBB  LE  OLKROQ. 


n 


as  the  title  Btates,  an  account  of  the  defeat  of  the  English  at  Quebec,  in  1690, 
by  Frontenac,  who  had  returned  the  previous  year. 

Compelled  by  a  love  of  truth  to  be  somewhat  severe  on  both  le  Clercq  and 
Hennepin,  we  would  by  no  means  seem  to  reflect  generally  on  the  Recollects  of 
Canada.  The  latter  committed  his  forgeries  when  cast  off  by  his  province,  the 
former  was  not,  I  believe,  the  author  of  the  objectionable  parts  in  the  work 
that  bears  his  name ;  that  two  hands  were  employed  in  it,  will  I  think,  appear 
to  any  one  who  will  read  it  over  attentively  several  times.  That  all  the  Rec- 
ollects should  have  been  at  the  time  under  some  prejudice  is  natural,  owing  to 
their  position,  and  allowance  is  made  for  that,  as  we  must  daily  make  for  those 
who  can  not  judge  of  an  individual  without  some  attack  on  the  church  to  which 
he  belongs.  Fortunately  for  all,  the  Recollects  were  soon  relieved  from  their 
false  position  by  the  settlement  of  the  disputes,  and  without  attempting  new 
Indian  missions,  labored  for  the  good  of  the  colony  with  a  zeal  beyond  all 
praise.  Chosen  almost  always  as  chaplains  to  the  troops  and  forts,  they  were 
to  be  found  at  every  French  post,  and  thus  became  the  earliest  pastors  of  some 
of  our  western  towns.  Like  the  Jesuits,  they  were  a  second  time  excluded  from 
lan&ia,  by  the  English  on  their  conquest  in  the  last  century,  and  the  last  sur- 
vivor has  long  since  descended  to  the  grave.  A  few  names,  and  a  church  that 
bears  their  name,  are  almost  all  that  recall  to  the  traveller  the  labors  and  merits 
of  the  children  of  St  Francis. 


i'.  ... 


NARRATIVE 

OF  THE  FIRST  ATTEMPT  BY 

M.  CA  YELIER  DE  LA  SALLE 

TO 

EXPLORE    THE    MISSISSIPPI. 

DRAWN  UP  FROM  THE  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  FATHER  ZENOBIUS  MEMBR^,  A 
RECOLLECT  BY  FATHER  CHRETIEN  LECLERCa 


r'.. 


V.}. 


THE  Sieur  Robert  Cavelier  de  la  Salle,  a  native  of  Bouen, 
of  one  of  the  most  distinguished  families  there,  a  man  of 
vast  intellect,  brought  up  for  literary  pursuits,*  capable  and 
learned  in  every  branch,  especially  in  mathematics,  naturally 

*  La  Salle,  in  early  life,  resolved  to  consecrate  himself  to  God  in  a  religion* 
order,  and  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus.  After  passing  ten  years^  however,  teach- 
ing and  studying  in  their  colleges,  he  left  them — for  what  reason  is  not  now 
known — and  came  to  Canada  to  build  up  his  fortunes,  for  he  had  lost  his 
inheritance  by  the  unjust  provisions  of  the  French  law.  His  previous  seclu- 
sion from  the  world  had,  perhaps,  but  too  well  fitted  him  for  conceiving  vast 
projects,  but  totally  disqualified  him  for  their  successful  conduct ;  the  minute 
detuls,  the  cautious  choice  of  men,  the  constant  superintendence  required 
in  a  large  establishment,  were  foreign  to  his  character,  and  we  shall,  in  the 
result,  see  in  this  the  cause  of  all  his  misfortunes.  Like  many  others,  he 
thought  of  finding  a  way  to  China,  and  began  some  enterprise  which  resulted 
only  in  giving  the  name  of  Lachine  to  his  trading-post  near  Montreal.  The  fur 
trade  was  the  great  means  of  wealth,  and  he  next  conceived  the  plan  of  a  large 
trading  monopoly  on  Lake  Ontario,  to  be  centred  at  Fort  Frontenao ;  from  that 
moment,  however,  he  raised  against  him  all  the  individual  traders  in  the  Indian 
country,  and  he  was  soon  aware  that  this  was  no  speedy  road  to  wealth.    Hia 


m:i 


84 


NABBATIYE  OF  FATUEB   MEMBBE. 


PI 


enterprising,  prudent,  and  moral,  had  been  for  some  years  in 
Canada,  and  had  already,  under  the  administration  of  De 
Oourcelles  and  Talon,  shown  his  great  abilities  for  discoveries. 
M.  de  Fyontenac  selected  him  to  command  Fort  Frontenac, 
•where  he  was  nearly  a  year,  till  coming  to  France  in  1676,  he 
obtained  of  the  court  the  government  and  property  of  the  lake 
and  its  dependencies,  on  condition  of  building  there  a  regular 
stone  fort,  clearing  the  ground,  and  making  French  and  In- 
dian villages,  and  of  supporting  there,  at  his  own  expense,  a 
sufficient  garrison,  and  Eecollect  missionaries. 

ideas  now  took  a  new  turn,  Jolict  had  returned  to  Canada,  after  exploring  the 
Mississippi  with  Marquette,  far  enough  to  verify  the  supposition  that  it  emptied 
into  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  His  accounts  of  the  buffalo  country,  induced  La  Salle 
to  believe  that  a  very  lucrative  trade  in  their  skins  and  wool  might  be  opened 
directly  between  tlie  buffalo  plains  and  France  by  the  Mississippi  and  gulf,  with- 
out carrying  them  through  Canada.  To  secure  this  was  now  his  object  Joliet, 
who  seems  not  to  have  been  favored,  was  rewarded  with  a  grant,  not  on  the  river 
he  had  explored,  but  at  tlie  other  extreme  of  the  French  colony,  tlie  island  of  Anti- 
costi,  and  La  Salle,  who  liad  secured  Frontenac's  favor,  obtained  a  royal  patent, 
•uch  as  he  desired.  It  was,  however,  provided,  "  that  he  carry  on  no  trade  what- 
ever with  the  Indians  called  Ottawas,  and  others  who  bring  their  beaver-skins 
and  other  peltries  to  Montreal,"  while  to  him  and  his  company,  the  privilege  of 
the  trade  in  buffalo  skins  was  granted. — (Vol.  i.,  p.  35.)  Tlie  privote  traders  who 
had  already  visited  the  Illinois  country,  considered  his  including  it  in  his  grant 
as  unjustifiable,  and  both  in  the  west  and  at  Quebec  opposed  him  in  every  way, 
monopolies  having  always  been  objects  of  dislike.  A  variety  of  circumstances 
defeated  his  first  plan  in  the  Illinois  country,  in  1680,  and  no  new  discovery 
having  been  made  by  himself  or  Hennepin,  ho  abandoned  his  first  plan  of  de- 
scending the  jSIississippi  in  a  vessel,  and  sailing  thence  to  the  isles,  and  resolved  to 
examine  the  mouth  in  boats,  and  acquire  such  a  knowledge  of  its  position  as 
would  enable  him  to  reach  it  direct  from  France  by  sen.  He  accordingly  sailed 
down  in  1682,  and  following  the  course  of  Marquette  and  Joliet,  reached  their 
furthest  station  on  the  3d  of  March,  then  passing  on,  explored  the  river  to  the 
gulf,  which  lie  reached  on  the  9th  of  April,  thus  crowning  the  work  of  the 
former  explorers,  and  with  Hennepin's  voyage,  tracing  its  whole  course  from  the 
falls  of  St.  Anthony  to  the  sea.  In  pursuance  of  his  plan  he  returned  to  France, 
and  attempted  to  reach  it  by  sea,  but  missed  the  mouth,  and  landing  in  Texas, 
perished  in  an  attempt  to  reach  the  Illinois  country  by  land.  As  a  great  but  un- 
guccessful  merchant,  vast  and  enterprising  in  his  plans,  though  unfitted  by  early 
associations  from  achieving  them,  he  presents  one  of  the  most  striking  examples 
of  calm  and  persevering  courage  amid  diflicultics  and  disasters.  He  rose  above 
every  adversity,  unshaken  and  undiscouraged,  ever  ready  to  make  the  worse  the 


DISCOTEBIES  IN  THB  MISSISSIPPI  VALLKT. 


Monsieur  de  la  Salle  returned  to  Canada  and  fulfilled  these 
conditions  completely ;  a  fort  with  four  bastions  was  built  at 
the  entrance  of  the  lake  on  the  northern  side  at  the  end  of  a 
basin,  where  a  considerable  fleet  of  large  vessels  might  be 
sheltered  from  the  winds.  This  fort  enclosed  that  built  by 
Monsieur  de  Frontenac.  He  also  gave  us  a  piece  of  ground 
fifteen  arpents  in  front,  by  twenty  deep,  the  donation  being 
accepted  by  Monsieur  de  Frontenac,  syndic  of  our  mission. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  detail  the  obstacles  he  had  to  en> 
counter,  raised  against  him  daily  in  the  execution  of  his  plans, 
60  that  he  found  less  opposition  in  the  savage  tribes  whom  he 
was  always  able  to  bring  into  his  plans.  Monsieur  de  Fron- 
tenac went  up  there  every  year,  and  care  was  taken  to  assem- 
ble there  the  chiefs  and  leading  men  of  the  Iroquois  nations, 
great  and  small ;  maintaining  by  this  means  alliance  and 
commerce  with  them,  and  disposing  them  to  embrace  Christi- 
anity, which  was  the  principal  object  of  the  new  establish- 
ment.* 

My  design  being  to  treat  of  the  publication  of  the  faith  to 
that  prodigious  quantity  of  nations  who  are  comprised  in  the 
dominions  of  the  king,  as  his  majesty  has  discovered  them, 
we  shall  continue  our  subject  by  those  which  were  made 
during  the  rest  of  the  present  epoch  in  all  parts  of  New  France. 

While  the  reverend  father  Jesuits  among  the  southern  Iro- 

better  fortune.    His  life  by  Sparks^  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  to 
the  early  history  of  America. 

*  Le  Clercq,  p.  119.  The  subsequent  pages,  down  to  page  131,  relate  to  the 
religious  affairs  of  the  colony.  The  only  reference  to  La  Salle,  is  this  on  p.  127 : 
"  Our  reverend  fathers  having  obtained  of  the  king  letters-patent  for  our  estab- 
lishments at  Quebec,  Isle  Perc^e,  and  Fort  Frontenac,  they  were  registered  at 
the  sovereign  council  of  Quebec,  and  Monsieur  de  la  Salle  built,  at  his  own  ex- 
pense, a  house  on  the  land  he  had  given  us  near  the  fort,  in  which  a  chapel 
was  made.  A  fine  church  was  afterward  added,  adorned  with  paintings  and 
necessary  vestments — also,  a  regular  bouse  and  appendages,  completed  by  the 
exertions  of  Father  Joseph  Denis." 


% 


s^i 


86 


KABBATIVE  OF  FATHEB  MEMBBB.   >'• 


qnoia  on  the  upper  part  of  the  river  had  the  honor  of  bearing 
the  gospel  to  the  nations  bordering  on  those  tribes ;  the  peace 
between  the  two  crowns  of  France  and  England  giving  them 
free  access  everywhere,  without  being  traversed  by  the  Eng- 
lish, they  announced  the  faith  to  the  Etchemins,  and  other  In- 
dian nations  that  came  to  trade  at  Loup  river,  where  the  or- 
dinary post  of  the  mission  was ;  our  missions  of  St.  John's 
Kiver,  Beaubassin,  Mizamichis,  Nipisignit,  Bietigouche,  and 
Isle  Perc^e,  were  similarly  supported — we  continued  to  labor 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  of  those  vast  countries  com- 
prized under  the  name  of  Acadia,  Cape  Breton  and  the 
great  bay  (gulf  of  St.  Lawrence). 

In  the  time  of  M.  de  Courcelles  and  Talon,  the  discoveries 
were  pushed  toward  the  north  bay  (Hudson's),  of  which 
something  was  known  from  two  or  three  previous  attempts. 
The  sieur  de  St.  Simon  was  chosen  for  the  expedition,  with 
the  reverend  father  Albanes  (Albanel),  a  Jesuit.  By  the 
maps  of  the  country  it  is  easy  to  see  what  difficulties  had  to 
be  surmounted,  how  much  toil  and  hardship  undergone,  how 
many  falls  and  rapids  to  be  passed,  and  portages  made,  to 
reach  by  land  these  unknown  parts  and  tribes,  as  far  as  Hud- 
son's bay  or  strait.  M.  de  Frontenac  was  in  Canada  on  the 
return  of  the  party  in  1672.  This  discovery  thenceforward 
enabled  them  to  push  the  mission  much  further  to  the  north, 
and  draw  some  elect  from  those  distant  nations  to  receive  the 
first  rudiments  of  Christianity,  until  in  1686,  the  victorious 
arms  of  the  king,  under  the  guidance  of  M.  de  Troye,  D'Hi- 
berville,  Ste.  Helaine,  and  a  number  of  brave  Canadians,  by 
order  of  the  marquis  d'Enonville,  then  governor-general  of 
the  country,  conquered  those  northern  parts  where,  as  the 
French  arms  are  still  gloriously  maintained,  the  zeal  of  the 
Jesuit  fathers  is  employed  in  publishing  the  gospel. 


DISCOVERIES  IK  THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


•sr 


The  unwearied  charity  of  those  illustrious  missionaries  ad- 
vanced their  labore  with  much  more  success  during  the  pres- 
ent  epoch,  among  the  Ottawa  nations,  seconded  by  the  great 
zeal  of  Frontenac's  protection,  and  the  ascendant  which  the 
wisdom  of  the  governor  had  acquired  over  the  savages,  A 
magnificent  church,  furnished  with  the  richest  vestments,  was 
built  at  the  mission  of  St.  Mary's  of  the  sault;  that  of  the  bay 
of  the  Fetid  (Green  bay),  and  Michilimakinak  island,  were 
more  and  more  increased  by  the  gathering  of  Indian  tribes. 
The  missions  around  Lake  Condc  (Superior)  further  north,  were 
also  increased.  This  lake  alone  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
long,  sixty  wide,  and  about  five  hundred  in  circuit,  inhabited 
by  diflferent  nations,  whence  we  may  form  an  idea  of  the  la- 
bors of  the  missionaries  in  five  or  six  establishments.  Finally, 
in  the  last  years  of  M.  de  Frontenac's  first  administration, 
Sieur  du  Luth,  a  man  of  talent  and  experience  opened  a  way 
to  the  missionaries  and  the  gospel  in  many  diflferent  nations 
turning  toward  the  north  of  that  lake,  where  he  even  built  a 
fort.  He  advanced  as  far  as  the  lake  of  the  Issati,  called 
Lake  Buade,  from  the  family  name  of  M.  de  Frontenac,  plant- 
ing the  arms  of  his  majesty  in  several  nations  on  the  right 
and  left,  where  the  misf  lonaries  still  make  every  eflfbrt  to  in- 
troduce Christianity,  the  only  fruit  of  which  indeed  consists 
in  the  baptism  of  some  dying  children,  and  in  rendering 
adults  inexcusable  at  God's  judgment  by  the  gospel  preached 
to  them.* 


iff,., 


'nVfits 


''^J 


w  „* 


*  The  promise  of  a  general  account  of  discoveriea  made,  and  his  praise  of  the 
Jesuit  missionaries  in  the  preceding  pages,  must  excite  contempt  when  we  find 
them  a  mask  for  falsehood  and  concealment  Nothing  here  would  lead  the  reader 
to  suppose  that  Father  Allouez  and  other  missionaries  had  explored  the  country 
around  Lake  Superior  for  seven  yeors  prior  to  the  coming  of  Frontenac ;  that  on 
accurate  map  had  been  published  by  them,  in  1672;  that  Father  Marquette,  after 
many  disappointments,  at  last,  with  Joliet^  descended  the  Mississippi  far  enough 
to  be  certain  as  to  the  sea  into  which  it  emptied.    Yet  the  discoveries  of  Allouei 


'H'/IM^ 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MEMBR^. 


in  I 


I  bhall  hereafter  limit  myself  to  publish  the  great  dis- 
coveries made  by  order  of  the  king,  under  the  command  of 
M.  do  Frontenac  and  the  direction  of  M.  de  la  Salle,  as  being 
those  which  promised  the  greatest  fruits  for  the  establishment 
of  the  faith,  if  in  course  of  time  they  are  resumed  and  sup- 
ported as  they  deserve. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle  having  completed  the  construction  of 
Fort  Frontenac,  and  greatly  advanced  the  establishment  of 
French  and  Indian  settlements,  was  induced,  by  the  report 
of  many  tribes,  to  believe  that  great  progress  could  be  made 
by  pushing  on  the  discoveries  by  the  lakes  into  the  river  Mis- 
flisipi,  which  he  then  supposed  to  empty  into  the  Red  sea 
(gulf  of  California).*    He  made  a  voyage  to  France  in  1677, 

and  the  map  are  in  the  Relations  which  ho  elsewhere  ridicules ;  the  voyage  of  Joliet 
he  must  have  heard  of  during  his  residence  in  Canada,  and  known  as  well  as  Hen- 
nepin who  refers  to  it  in  his  first  work,  even  if  we  are  to  suppose  liim  never  to 
have  read  the  work  of  )iis  fellow-missionary,  or  Thevenot's  edition  of  Father  Mar- 
quette's journal.  In  his  eagerness  to  ascribe  no  discovery  to  the  Jesuits,  he  ao- 
tually  sends  Du  Luth  to  Lake  Issati  before  any  of  the  missionaries.  Was  he 
there  before  Hennepin  ? 

*  Tliis  assertion  seems  perfectly  gratuitous,  and  is  not  justified  by  the  letters 
patent  to  La  Salle.  Joliet's  return  set  the  matter  at  rest,  and  left  no  doubt  as 
to  its  emptying  into  the  gulf.  In  this  work,  indeed,  Marquette  is  never  mentioned, 
and  Joliet's  voyage  decried,  if  not  denied ;  but  in  the  first  of  the  seriefe  of  worka 
on  La  Salle,  Hennepin's  "Description  de  la  Louisane"  (Paris,  1684),  of  which  the 
printing  was  completed  January  5th,  1683,  that  is  but  a  few  days  after  Mem- 
brfi's  arrival  with  the  account  of  La  Salle's  voyage,  the  prior  voyage  of  Joliet  ia 
admitted,  and  La  Salle's  object  thus  stated :  "Toward  the  end  of  the  year  1678 
(1677),  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  came  to  France  to  report  to  M.  Colbert  the  execu- 
tion of  his  orders ;  he  then  represented  to  him  that  Fort  Frontenac  gave  him 
great  opportunities  for  making  discoveries  with  our  Recollects ;  that  his  princi- 
pal design  in  building  the  fort  had  been  to  continue  these  discoveries  in  rich, 
fertile,  and  temperate  countries,  where  commerce  in  the  skins  and  wool  of  the 
wild  cattle,  called  by  the  Spaniards  Cibola,  might  establish  a  great  trade,  and 
•upport  powerful  colonies;  that,  however,  as  it  would  be  difficult  to  bring 
these  buffalo-hides  in  canoes,  he  prayed  M.  Colbert  to  grant  him  a  commission  to 
go  and  discover  the  mouth  of  the  great  river  Mechasipi,  on  which  vessels  might 
be  built  to  come  to  France ;  and  that,  considering  the  great  expense  he  had  un- 
dergone in  building  and  supporting  Fort  Frontenac,  he  would  be  pleased  to 
grant  him  an  exclusive  privilege  of  trading  in  buffalo-skins,  of  which  he  brought 
one  as  a  sample,  and  his  request  was  granted." — ^P.  14.  .    . 


DISOOYEBIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


80 


and  favored  by  letters  from  the  count  do  Frontenac,  obtained 
of  the  court  necessary  powera  to  undertake  and  carry  out  this 
great  design  at  his  own  expense. 

Furnished  with  these  powers,  he  arrived  in  Canada  toward 
the  close  of  September,  1678,  with  the  sieur  de  Tonty,  an 
Italian  gentleman,  full  of  spirit  and  resolution,  who  after- 
ward 80  courageously  and  faithfully  seconded  him  in  all  his 
designs.  Ho  had  also  with  him  thirty  men — pilots,  sailors, 
carjjenters,  and  other  mechanics,  with  all  things  necessary 
for  his  expedition.  Some  Canadians  having  joined  him,  he 
sent  all  his  party  in  advance  to  Fort  Frontenac,  where  Father 
Gabriel  de  la  Ribourde,  and  Father  Luke  Buisset  were  al- 
ready, and  where  Fathers  Louis  Hennepin,  Zenobius  Mem- 
br6,  and  Melithon  Watteau,  now  repaired.  They  were  all 
three  missionaries  of  our  province  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua, 
in  Artois,  as  well  as  Father  Luke  Buisset,  his  majesty  having 
honored  the  Recollects  with  the  care  of  the  spiritual  direction 
of  the  expedition  by  express  orders  addressed  to  Father  Val- 
entine le  Roux,  commissary  provincial,  and  superior  of  the 
mission.  The  sieur  de  la  Salle  soon  followed  them,  the  Al- 
mighty preserving  him  from  many  perils  in  that  long  voyage 
from  Quebec,  over  falls  and  rapids  to  Fort  Frontenac,  where 
he  arrived  at  last,  much  emaciated.  Deriving  new  strength 
from  his  great  courage,  he  issued  all  his  orders  and  sent  off 
his  troop  in  a  brigantine  for  Niagara  with  Father  Louis,  on 
the  18th  of  November. 

The  navigation,  in  which  they  had  to  encounter  many 
dangers  and  even  disasters  crossing  the  great  lake  in  so  ad- 
vanced a  season,  prevented  their  reaching  Niagara  river  be- 
fore the  5th  of  December.  On  the  sixth,  they  entered  the 
river,  and  the  following  days,  by  canoe  and  land,  advanced 
to  the  spot  where  the  sienr  de  la  Salle  intended  to  raise  a 


i 


NARBATTVB  OF  FATUEtt  MKMBRE. 


nmRI 


fort,  and  build  a  bark  above  Niagara  fulle,  whonce  the  St. 
Lawrence  {Le  Fleuvc)  communicates  with  Lake  Conty  (Erie), 
and  Lake  Frontonac  (Ontario),  by  the  said  falls  and  river, 
which  is,  as  it  were,  the  strait  of  communication. 

A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  this  project  with  that 
of  Fort  Frontenac,  and  the  fort  he  was  about  to  build  at  Niag- 
ara, might  excite  some  jealousy  among  the  Iroquois  who 
dwell  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  great  lake.  The  sieur  de  la 
Ballo,  with  his  usual  address,  met  the  principal  chiefs  of  those 
tribes  in  conference,  and  gained  them  so  completely  that  they 
not  only  agreed  to  it,  but  even  offered  to  contribute  with  all 
their  means  to  the  execution  of  his  design.  This  great  con- 
cert lasted  some  time.  The  sieur  do  la  Salle  also  sent  many 
canoes  to  trade  north  and  south  of  the  lake  among  these  tribes. 

Meanwhile,  as  certain  peraons  traversed  with  all  their 
might  the  project  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  they  insinuated 
feelings  of  distrust  in  the  Seneca  Iroquois  as  the  fort  building 
at  Niagara  began  to  advance,  and  they  succeeded  so  well 
that  the  fort  became  an  object  of  suspicion,  and  the  works 
had  to  be  suspended  for  a  time,  and  ho  had  to  be  sat- 
isfied with  a  house  surrounded  by  palisades.  The  sieur 
de  la  Salle  did  not  fail  to  give  prompt  orders;  he  made 
frequent  voyages  from  Fort  Frontenac  to  Niagara,  during 
the  winter  on  the  ice,  in  the  spring  with  vessels  loaded  with 
provisions.  In  all  the  opposition  raised  by  those  envious  of 
him,  fortune  seemed  to  side  with  them  against  him ;  the  pilot 
who  directed  one  of  his  well-loaded  barks,  lost  it  on  Lake 
Frontenac.  When  the  snow  began  to  melt,  he  sent  fifteen  of 
his  men  to  trade  on  the  lake  ii  canoes,  as  far  as  the  Dinois  to 
prepare  him  the  way,  till  his  barque  building  at  Niagara  was 
completed.  It  was  perfectly  ready  in  tho  month  of  An- 
gust,  1679.  '-' 


DnooTEBinti  nf  ths  missmsifpi  tallet. 


91 


Tho  father  commissary  bad  started  some  time  before  from 
Quebec  for  the  fort,  to  give  the  orders  incumbent  on  his  office, 
and  put  in  force  those  expedited  in  the  month  of  July,  by 
which  Father  Gabriel  was  named  superior  of  the  new 
expedition,  to  be  accompanied  by  Father  Louis  Hennepin, 
Zenobius  MembrS,  and  Melithon  Watteaux,  the  latter  to  re- 
main at  Niagara,  and  make  it  his  mission,  while  Father  Luke 
should  remain  at  the  fort. 

The  three  former  accordingly  embarked  on  the  7th  of  Au- 
gust, with  Monsieur  do  la  Salle  and  his  whole  party  in  the 
vessel,  which  had  been  named  the  Griffin  in  honor  of  the  arms 
of  Monsieur  de  Frontenac.  Father  Melithon  remained  at  tho 
house  at  Niagara,  with  some  laborers  and  clerks.  The  same 
day  they  sailed  for  Lake  Conty,  after  passing  contrary  to  all 
expectations  the  currents  of  the  strait.  This  was  due  to  the 
resolution  and  address  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  his  men 
having  before  his  arrival  used  every  means  to  no  purpose. 
It  appeared  a  kind  of  marvel,  considering  the  rapidity  of  the 
curi'ent  in  the  strait,  which  neither  man  nor  animal,  nor  any 
ordinary  vessel  can  resist,  much  less  ascend. 

The  map  will  show  that  from  this  place  you  sail  up  Lake 
Conty  (Erie),  to  Lake  Orleans  (Huron),  which  terminates  in 
Lake  Dauphin  (Michigan) ;  these  lakes  being  each  a  hundred, 
or  a  hundred  and  twenty  leagues  long,  by  forty  or  fifty  wide, 
communicating  with  one  another  by  easy  channels  and  straits, 
which  oflfer  vessels  a  convenient  and  beautiful  navigation. 
All  these  lakes  are  full  of  fish ;  the  country  is  most  finely 
situated,  the  soil  temperate,  being  north  and  south,  bordered 
by  vast  prairies,  which  terminate  in  hills  covered  with  vines, 
fruit-trees,  groves,  and  tall  woods,  all  scattered  here  and  there, 
80  that  one  would  think  that  the  ancient  Eomans,  princes  and 
nobles  would  have  made  them  as  many  villas.  The  soil  is 
everywhere  equally  fertile. 


A  A: 


k 


92 


NABBATTVB  OF  FATHER  MEMBRR. 


^.1  «: 


Tlie  sienr  do  la  Salle  having  entered  Lake  Conty  on  the 
7th,  crossed  it  in  three  days,  and  on  the  10th  reached  the 
strait  (Detroit),  by  which  he  entered  Lake  Orleans.  The 
voyage  was  interrupted  by  a  storm  as  violent  as  could  be 
met  in  the  open  sea ;  our  people  lost  all  hope  of  escape ;  but 
a  vow  which  they  made  to  St.  Anthony,  of  Padua,  the  patron 
of  mariners,  delivered  them  by  a  kind  of  miracle,  so  that, 
after  long  making  head  against  the  wind,  the  vessel  on  the 
27th  reached  Missilimakinak,  which  is  north  of  the  strait,  by 
which  we  go  from  Lake  Orleans  to  Lake  Dauphin. 

"No  "  :sel8  had  yet  been  seen  sailing  on  the  lakes ;  yet  an 
enterprise  which  should  have  been  sustained  by  all  well- 
meaning  persons,  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  service  of  the 
king,  had  produced  precisely  the  opposite  feelings  and  effects, 
which,  had  been  already  communicated  to  the  Hurons,  the 
Outaoiiats  of  the  island  and  the  neighboring  nation?,  to  make 
them  ill  affected.  The  sieur  de  la  Salle  even  found  here  the 
fifteen  men,  whom  he  had  sent  in  the  spring,  prejudiced 
against  him,  and  seduced  from  his  service ;  a  part  of  his 
goods  wasted,  far  from  having  proceeded  to  the  Ilinois  to 
trade  according  to  their  ordera ;  the  sieur  de  Tonty,  who  was 
at  their  head,  having  in  vain  made  every  effort  to  inspire 
them  with  fidelity.* 

At  last  he  weighed  anchor  on  the  2d  of  September,  and  ar- 
rived pretty  safely  at  the  Bay  of  the  Fetid  (Green  bay),  at 
the  entrance  of  Lake  Dauphin,  forty  leagues  from  Missili- 
makinak. Would  to  God  that  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  had  con- 
tinued his  route  in  the  vessel.  His  wisdom  could  not  foresee 
the  misfortunes  which  awaited  him;  he  deemed  proper  to 
send  it  back  by  the  same  route  to  Niagara,  with  the  furs  al- 


*  La  Salle's  sending  them  was  a  violation  of  his  patent — See  Hiatorieal  ColltC' 
Horu  of  Louisiana,  vol.  i.,  p.  86. 


DISCOYEBIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


93 


ready  bought,  in  order  to  pay  his  creditors.  He  even  left  in 
it  a  part  of  his  goods  and  implements,  which  were  not  easy  to 
transport.  The  captain  had  orders  to  return  with  the  vessel 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  join  us  in  the  Ilinois. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  18th  of  September,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle 
with  our  fathers  and  seventeen  men,  continued  their  route  in 
canoes  by  Lake  Dauphin,  from  the  Pouteotatamis  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river  of  the  Mianiis  (St.  Joseph's),  where  they 
arrived  on  the  first  of  November.  This  place  had  been  ap- 
pointed a  rendezvous  for  twenty  Frenchmen,  who  came  by 
the  opposite  shore,  and  also  for  the  sieur  de  Tonty,  who  had 
been  sent  by  the  sieur  dc  la  Salle  to  Missilimakinak  on  another 
expedition. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle  built  a  fort  there  to  protect  his  men 
and  property  against  any  attack  of  the  Indians ;  our  religious 
soon  had  a  bark  cabin  erected  to  serve  as  a  chapel,  where 
they  exercised  their  ministry  for  French  and  Indians  until 
the  third  of  December,  when  leaving  four  men  in  the  fort, 
they  went  in  search  of  the  portage  which  would  bring  them 
to  the  Seignelay  (Ilinois),  which  descends  to  the  Missisipi. 
They  embarked  on  this  river  to  the  number  of  thirty  or  forty, 
by  which  after  a  hundred,  or  a  hundred  and  twenty  leagues 
sail,  they  arrived  toward  the  close  of  December,  at  the  largest 
Ilinois  village,  composed  of  about  four  or  five  hundred  cabins, 
each  of  five  or  six  families. 

it  is  the  custom  of  these  tribes  at  harvest-time  to  put 
their  Indian  corn  in  caches,  in  order  to  keep  it  for  summer, 
when  meat  easily  spoils,  and  to  go  and  pass  the  winter  in 
hunting  wild  cattle  and  beaver,  carrying  very  little  grain. 
That  of  our  people  had  run  short,  so  that  passing  by  the 
Ilinois  village,  they  were  obliged,  there  being  no  one  there, 
to  take  some  Indian  corn.  ;b  much  as  they  deemed  necessary 
for  their  subsistence. 


">  \f  t 


94 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MEMBRW, 


They  left  it  on  the  Ist  of  January,  1680,  aiid  by  the  4th, 
were  thirty  leagues  lower  down  amid  the  Ilinois  camp ;  they 
were  encamped  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  which  is  very  nar- 
row there,  but  soon  after  forms  a  lake  about  seven  leagues 
long,  and  about  one  wide,  called  Pimiteoui,  meaning  in  their 
language  that  there  are  plenty  of  fat  beasts  there.  The  sieur 
de  la  Salle  estimated  it  at  33°  45'.  It  is  remarkable,  because 
the  Ilinois  river,  which  for  several  months  in  winter  is  frozen 
down  to  it,  never  is  from  this  place  to  the  mouth,  although 
navigation  is  at  times  interinipted  by  accumulations  of  floating 
ice  from  above. 

Our  people  had  been  assured  that  the  Ilinois  had  been  ex- 
cited and  prejudiced  against  them.  Finding  himself  then  in 
the  midst  of  their  camp,  which  lay  on  both  sides  of  the  river, 
at  a  narrow  pass,  where  the  current  was  hurrying  on  the 
canoes  faster  than  they  liked,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  promptly 
put  his  men  under  arms,  and  ranged  his  canoes  abreast  so 
as  to  occupy  the  whole  breadth  of  the  river,  the  canoes 
nearest  the  two  banks,  in  which  were  the  sieur  de  Tonty,  and 
the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  were  not  more  than  half  a  pistol-shot 
from  the  shore.  The  Ilinois,  who  had  not  yet  discovered  the 
little  flotilla  ranged  in  battle  order,  were  alarmed  ;  some  ran 
to  arms,  others  fled  in  incredible  confusion.  The  sieur  de  la 
Salle  had  a  calumet  of  peace,  but  would  not  show  it,  not  liking 
to  appear  weak  before  them.  As  they  were  soon  so  near  that 
they  could  underetand  each  other,  they  asked  our  French- 
men, who  they  were.  They  replied  that  they  were  French, 
still  keeping  their  arms  ready,  and  letting  the  current  bear 
them  down  in  order,  because  there  was  no  landing  place  till 
belov,  the  camp. 

The  Indians  alarmed  and  intimidated  by  this  bold  conduct 
(although  tbey  were  several  thousand  against  a  handful),  im- 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


96 


mediately  presented  three  calumets ;  our  people  at  the  same 
time  presented  theira,  and  their  terror  changing  to  joy,  they 
conducted  our  party  to  their  cabins,  showed  us  a  thousand 
civilities,  and  sent  to  call  back  those  who  had  fled.  They 
were  told,  that  we  came  only  to  give  them  a  knowledge  of 
the  true  God,  to  defend  them  against  their  enemies,  to  bring 
them  arms  and  other  conveniences  of  life.  Besides  presents 
made  them,  they  were  paid  for  the  Indian  com  taken  at  their 
village;  a  close  alliance  was  made  with  them,  the  rest  of  the 
day  being  spent  in  feasts  and  mutual  greetings. 

All  the  s'eur  de  la  Salle's  intrepidity  and  skill  were  needed 
to  keep  the  alliance  intact,  as  Monsoela,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
nation  of  Maskoutens  came  that  very  evening  to  traverse  it. 
It  was  known  that  ho  was  sent  by  others  than  those  of  his 
nation ;  he  had  even  with  him  some  Miamis,  and  young  men 
bearing  kettles,  knives,  axes,  and  other  goods.  He  had  been 
chosen  for  this  embassy  rather  than  a  Miami  chief,  to  give 
more  plausibility  to  what  he  should  say,  the  Ilinois  not  having 
been  at  war  with  the  Maskoutens,  as  they  had  with  the  Mi- 
amis.  He  cabaled  even  the  whole  night,  speaking  of  the 
sieur  de  la  VrWe  as  an  intriguer,  a  friend  of  the  Iroquois, 
comii.g  to  the  Ilinois  only  to  open  the  way  to  their  enemies, 
who  were  coming  on  all  sides  with  the  French  to  destroy 
them  ;  he  made  them  presents  of  all  that  he  had  brought,  and 
even  told  them  that  he  came  on  behalf  of  several  Frenchmen 
whom  he  named. 

This  council  was  held  at  night,  the  time  chosen  by  the  In- 
dians to  transact  secret  business.  This  embassador  retired 
the  same  night,  so  that  the  next  day  the  Ilinois  chiefs  were  found 
completely  changed,  cold  and  distrustful,  appearing  even  to 
plot  against  our  Frenchmen,  who  were  shaken  by  the  change, 
but  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  who  had  attached  one  of  the  chie& 


-1 ..  ,m 


^.ij 


96 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  MEMBBfi. 


m 


to  him  particularly  by  some  present,  learned  from  him  the 
Bubject  of  this  change.  His  address  soon  dispelled  all  these 
suspicions,  but  did  not  prevent  six  of  his  men,  already  tam- 
pered with  and  prejudiced  at  Michilimakinak,  from  deserting 
that  very  day. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle  not  only  reassured  that  nation,  but 
found  means  in  the  sequel,  to  disabuse  the  Maskoutens  and 
Miamis,  and  to  form  an  alliance  between  them  and  the  Ilinois 
which  lasted  as  long  as  the  bieur  de  la  Salle  was  in  the 
country. 

With  this  assurance  the  little  army,  on  the  14th  of  January, 
1680,  the  floating  ice  from  above  having  ceased,  repaired  to 
a  little  eminence,  a  site  quite  near  the  Ilinois  camp  where  the 
Sieur  de  la  Salle  immediately  set  to  work  to  build  a  fort, 
which  he  called  Crevecojur,  on  accomit  of  the  many  disap- 
pointments he  had  experienced,  but  which  never  shook  his 
firm  resolve.  The  fort  was  well  advanced,  and  the  little  ves- 
Bel  already  up  to  the  string-piece  by  the  first  of  March,  when 
he  resolved  to  proceed  to  Fort  Frontenac.  There  were  four 
or  five  hundred  leagues  to  go  by  land,  but  not  finding  his 
brigantine,  the  Griffin,  return,  nor  those  he  had  sert  on  to 
meet  her,  and  foreseeing  the  disastrous  consequences  of  the 
probable  loss  of  his  vessel,  his  courage  rose  above  the  difficul- 
ties of  so  long  and  painful  a  journey. 

As  he  had  chosen  Father  Louis,  and  as  the  latter  had  of- 
fered to  continue  the  discovery  toward  the  north,  by  ascend- 
ing the  Missisipi,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  reserving  to  himself 
its  continuation  in  canoe  by  descending  till  he  found  the  sea, 
Father  Louis  set  out  in  canoe  from  Fort  Ci'evecoeur  un  the 
29th  of  February,  1630,  with  two  men  well  armed  and  equip- 
ped, who  had  besides  twelve  hundred  livree  in  goods,  which 
make  a  good  passport.    The  enterprise  was  great  and  hardy, 


l„ 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


97 


although  it  did  not  equal  the  great  zeal  of  the  intrepid  mis- 
sionaiy  who  undertook  and  continued  it  with  all  the  firmness, 
constancy,  and  edification,  which  can  be  desired,  amid  incon- 
ceivable toils. 

Although  the  discovery  had  already  been  pushed  four  or 
five  hundred  leagues  into  Louisiana,*  from  Fort  Frontenac  to 
Fort  Crevecoeur;  this  great  march  can  be  considered  only 
as  a  prelude  and  preparation  for  enterprises  still  more  vast, 
and  an  entrance  to  be  made  in  countries  still  more  advan- 
tageous. 

I  have  hitherto  given  only  a  short  abridgment  of  the  Eola- 
tions which  Father  Zenobius  Membre  gives  of  the  commence- 
ment of  this  enterprise.  Father  Louis,  whom  we  see  starting 
for  the  upper  Missisipi  has  published  a  description  of  the 
countries  which  he  visited  and  into  which  he  carried  the 
gospel.  I  therefore  refer  my  reader  to  it  without  repeating  it 
here.f  We  have  then  only  to  describe  what  is  most  essential 
and  important  in  this  discovery  conducted  by  the  personal 
labors  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  in  the  subsequent  years. 

*  In  fact  no  discovery  had  been  made ;  the  Jlinois  country  was  visited  by 
traders  before  Marquette's  second  voyage  to  it,  and  was  perfectly  known ;  Al- 
louez,  too,  was  there  shortly  before  this,  as  La  Salle  himself  states. 

f  We  prefer  to  interrupt  Le  Clercq's  narrative  here,  and  insert  the  account 
published  by  Father  Louis  Hennepin,  in  1684. 

T 


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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE 

OP 

THE  WORKS  OF  FATHER  LOUIS  HENNEPIN, 

A  RECOLLECT  OF  THE  PROVINCE  OF  ST.  ANTHONY,  IN  ARTOIS. 

Ws  have  already  in  the  notice  on  Le  Clercq  alluded  to  the  uncertainty  trliich 
hangs  around  many  of  the  works  connected  with  the  history  of  La  Salle.  In 
them,  however,  it  was  a  question  as  to  authorship,  alterations  made  by  pub- 
lishers, or  the  influence  of  party  spirit  in  the  original  writers ;  against  Hennepin, 
however,  there  is  a  still  heavier  charge.  A  good  man  may  be  so  blinded  by  party 
zeal  as  to  be  unjust  to  others,  and  bo  guilty  ol  acts  which  he  would  personally 
shrink  from  doing,  and  in  tliis  case  we  must^  to  attain  the  truth,  realize  fully  the 
position  of  the  antagonistic  parties  at  the  time.  Such  is  peculiarly  the  case  with 
Le  Clercq,  as  we  have  shown,  and  in  judging  the  work,  we  have  endeavored  to 
go  back  to  his  own  period. 

The  charge  against  Hennepin  is,  that  he  was  vain,  conceited,  exaggerating, 
and  even  mendacious.  To  weigh  so  serious  an  accusation,  we  shall  examine  his 
several  volumes,  which,  however,  as  will  be  seen,  resolve  themselves  into  two, 
publislied  at  an  interval  of  fourteen  years.  It  is  the  more  necessary  to  enter 
into  a  full  discussion  of  his  merits  as  few  works  relative  to  America  have 
been  more  widely  spread  than  that  of  Hennepin.  Published  originally  in 
French,  it  appeared  subneque'^'^y  in  Dutch,  English,  Italian,  and  Spanish,  and  if 
I  am  not  mistaken  in  German ;  ntKl  in  a  large  class  of  writers  is  quoted  with  the 
commendation.  It  was,  howt^ver,  soon  attacked.  The  editor  of  JouteJ,  in 
1713,  calls  it  in  question;  but  he  was  too  ignorant  of  Canadian  history  to  give 
his  charge  any  weight.  Severer  strictures  were  passed  upon  it  by  Harris,  and 
by  Kalm,  the  celebrated  Swedish  traveller.  Harris  says,  in  vol.  ii.,  p.  350,  "As 
to  the  accounts  of  La  Hontan,  and  Father  Hennepin,  they  have  been  formerly 
very  much  admired,  yet  we  are  now  well  satisiied  that  they  are  rather  ro- 
mances than  relations,  and  that  their  authors  had  their  particular  schemes  so 
much  in  view,  that  they  have  made  no  scruple  of  abusing  the  confidence  of  man- 
kind." In  this  country,  within  the  last  few  years  a  more  thorough  examination 
of  authorities  has  consigned  Hennepin,*  La  Hontan,  and  Lebeau,  to  that  amiable 
class  who  seem  to  tell  truth  by  accident  and  fiction  by  inclination.  The  works 
of  Hennepin  are,  I.  Description  de  la  Louisiane,  nouvellement  deeouverte  au  su- 
doiicst  de  la  nouvelle  France,  par  ordre  du  roy.  Avec  carte  du  pays,  les  moeurs 
et  la  mani^redevivredessauvages,  dedi^e  a  sa  Majestd,  par  le  R.  P.  Louis  Hen- 

*  N.  A.  Review  for  January,  1845,  Spark's  Life  of  La  Balle. 


K 


\S^ 


•*!*(' 


■■  i.  'Ml 


100 


BIBLI0ORA.PHI0AL   NOTICE. 


^-I||*('    I 


,  ii,.'>^M~-^^' 


nepin,  Missionare  Recollet  et  Notaire  Apostolique,  pp.  812,  and  107  Paris. 
Aiiroy,  1684. 

Charlevoix  takes  exception  to  the  title  of  this  work  on  the  ground  that  he 
misapplies  the  name  Louisiana,  but  in  fact  Illinois,  from  La  Salle's  time,  was  in- 
cluded under  that  name.  T!ie  title  is,  liowevcr,  false  in  the  words  "  newly  dis- 
covered to  the  southwest  of  Canada,"  as  no  new  discovery  had  been  made  in 
that  direction,  and  the  whole  volume  can  show  nothing  in  the  way  of  new  ex- 
ploration, beyond  what  had  already  been  published  in  Europe,  except  of 
so  much  of  the  Mississippi  as  lies  between  the  Wisconsin  river  and  the  falls  of 
St  Anthony,  which  he  was  the  first  European  to  travel.  But  let  us  enter  on  the 
volume  itself,  which,  apart  from  any  intrinsic  faults,  possesses  considerable  value, 
as  being  the  first  published,  and  by  far  the  fullest  account  of  La  Salle's  first  ex- 
pedition. Such  it  pretends  to  be,  and  accordingly  opens  with  an  account  of  that 
adventuror's  project  of  reaching  China,  his  attempt  with  some  Sulpitians,  in 
1G69,  and  his  establishment  at  Fort  Frontenac.  Hennepin  introduces  himself  to 
us,  for  the  first  time,  on  page  twelve,  as  having  established  a  mission  at  that 
fort  with  Father  Luke  Buisset;  then  mentions  Joliet's  voyage  down  the  Missis- 
sippi as  far  as  the  Illinois  (Indians),  which  he  represents  as  the  work  of  La  Salle's 
enemies.  Then  follow  the  latter's  voyage  to  France,  in  1677,  his  return  the  next 
year  with  an  order  for  the  author  to  accompany  him  in  his  discoveries,  and  his 
own  voyage  to  Fort  Frontenac,  which  he  details  ns  though  it  were  his  first 
trip  to  that  place.  At  Fort  Frontenac  I<a  Salle's  expedition  begins,  and  our  au- 
thor relates  all  that  happened  with  great  detail,  and  a  vast  profusion  of  nautical 
expressions,  down  to  the  building  of  Fort  Crevecoeur,  and  his  own  departure 
from  it,  February  29th,  1680.  His  journal  from  this  point  being  given  in  the 
present  volume,  we  need  not  analyze  it  further  than  to  say,  that  being  sent  to 
explore  the  Illinois  to  its  mouth,  in  the  Mississippi  (p.  184),  he  reached  that  point 
on  the  8th  of  March  (192),  and  after  being  detained  there  by  floating  rce  till  the 
12tb,  continued  his  route,  traversing  and  sounding  the  river.  Then  follows,  not 
a  journal  of  his  voyage,  but  a  geographical  descnption  of  the  upper  Mississippi, 
from  the  Illinois  river  to  Mille  lake  and  the  Sioux  country.  After  this  descrip- 
tion, he  resumes  his  journal  and  tells  us  (p.  206),  that  he  was  taken  by  the  Indians 
on  the  eleventh  of  April,  after  having  sailed  two  hundred  leagues  (p.  218),  from 
the  Illinois  (Indians).  He  was  taken  by  them  to  their  villages,  relieved  by  de 
Luth  in  July,  and  returned  to  Mackinaw  by  way  of  the  Wisconsin  and  Green 
bay.  Thence,  in  the  spring,  he  proceeded  to  the  Seneca  country.  Fort  Fron- 
tenac and  Montreal  His  work  contains,  besides  the  journal  given,  only  some 
account  of  the  party  he  left  at  Fort  Crevecoeur,  from  letters  he  saw  at  Quebec, 
and  of  La  Salle's  descent  to  the  gulf  from  others  received  by  him  in  France. 
This  is  followed  by  on  account  of  the  manners  of  the  savages  (p.  107). 

Taking  this  volume  by  itself,  the  reader  h  struck  by  the  unclerieal  character 
of  the  writer,  his  intense  vanity  and  fonaness  for  exaggeration.  The  manner  in 
which  he  rises  in  importance,  is  truly  amusing ;  not  only  does  he,  to  all  appear- 
ance, make  himself  the  superior  of  the  little  band  of  missionaries  in  La  Salle's 
expedition,  but  even  a  kind  of  joint  commander  with  La  Salle  himself.  Take  as 
a  specimen  the  following  passage,  which  we  select  the  more  readily,  as  it  bears  on 
his  voyage  to  tlie  Mississippi  Fort  Crevecceur  was  almost  built^  the  Dauphin  had 


r 


THE  WORKS   OF  FATHER  HENNEPIN. 


101 


he 


sent  no  tidings  of  her  voyage,  the  men  were  discontented  and  mutinous,  all  waa 
dark  and  gloomy  around  the  exploring  party  in  Illinois.  "  We  must  remark," 
says  Hennepin,  "that  the  winter  in  the  Ilinoia  country  is  not  longer  than  that  in 
Provence;  but,  in  1679,  the  snow  losted  more  than  twenty  days,  to  the  great 
astonishment  of  the  Indians  who  hud  never  seen  so  severe  a  winter,  so  that  the 
tieur  de  la  Salle  and  I  beheld  ourselves  exposed  to  new  hardships  that  will  ap- 
pear incredible  to  those  who  have  no  experience  of  great  voyages  and  now 
discoveries.  Fort  Cr6vecoBUr  was  almost  completed,  the  wood  was  oil  prepored 
to  finish  the  bark,  but  we  hod  not  cordoge,  nor  soils,  nor  iron  enough  ;  we  re- 
ceived no  tidings  of  the  bark  we  hod  left  on  Loke  Douphin,  nor  of  those  sent  to 
find  whot  hu  1  become  of  her;  meonwiiile  the  sieur  de  lo  Sollo  sow  that  summer 
was  coming  on,  and  that,  if  he  waited  some  months  in  vain,  our  enterprise  would 
be  retarded  one  yeor,  and  perhaps  two  or  three,  because  being  so  for  from  Can- 
ada, he  could  not  regtilote  offoirs,  nor  hove  the  neeessory  articles  forworded. 

In  this  extremity  we  both  took  o  resolution  as  extraordinory  as  it  was  difficult 
to  execute,  I  to  go  with  two  men  in  unknown  countries  where  we  ore  every  mo- 
ment in  gi'eat  danger  of  deoth,  ond  he  on  foot  to  Fort  Frontenoe  more  thon  five 
hundred  leagues  distont  We  were  then  at  the  close  of  winter,  which  had  been, 
as  we  have  sold,  as  severe  in  America  as  in  France;  the  ground  was  still  cov- 
ered with  snow,  which  was  neither  melted  nor  able  to  bear  o  man  in  snowshoes. 
He  hod  to  enrry  the  usual  eqnipr.ent  in  such  coses,  that  is,  a  blanket^  pot,  axe, 
gun,  powder,  and  lead,  with  Pressed  skins  to  make  Indian  shoes,  which  last  only 
a  doy,  French  shoes  being  oi  no  use  in  the  western  countries.  Besides,  he  hod  to 
resolve  to  pierce  through  thickets,  moi'ch  through  morshes  and  melting  snow, 
sometimes  waist  high,  for  whole  doys,  ot  times  with  nothing  to  eat,  because  he 
and  his  three  companions  could  not  carry  provisions,  being  compelled  to  rely  for 
-■ubsistenee  on  what  they  killed  with  their  guns,  and  to  expect  to  drink  only  the 
water  they  found  on  the  way.  Finally  he  was  exposed  everyday,  and  especially 
every  night,  to  be  surprised  by  four  or  five  nations  at  wor  with  eoeh  other,  with 
this  diiference  thot  the  notions  through  which  he  hod  to  pass  all  know  the 
French,  while  those  where  I  was  going  had  never  seen  Europeans.  Yet  all 
these  difficulties  did  not  astound  him  ani/  more  than  myself;  our  only  difficulty 
was  to  find  some  of  owr  men  stout  enougii  to  accompany  us  and  prevent  the  rest 
already  much  shnken  from  deserting  on  our  departure."  This  is  a  remorkoble 
passage,  and  hos  struck  olmost  every  writer  on  La  Salle  as  their  accounts  often 
seem  inspired  by  this  graphic  sketch  of  Hennepin.  It  is  more  than  we  said  at 
first :  Hennepin  is  here  even  greater  than  La  Salle  in  the  resolution  he  took  at 
this  trying  crisis.  After  this  we  expect  to  see  the  two  commanders  depart  on 
their  dangerous  expeditions,  we  run  over  the  succeeding  pnges,  the  highflown 
language  cools  down,  and  we  come  to  some  details  of  La  Salle's  oppointment  of 
Tonty  to  command,  which,  ore  followed  by  these  matter-of-fact  words,  com- 
pletely destroying  the  delusion  created  by  the  preceding  possoge. 

"He  begged  me  to  take  the  trouble  to  go  ond  discover  in  advance  the  route 
he  would  have  to  take  os  for  os  the  river  Colbert  on  his  return  from  Conada, 
but  as  I  had  an  obscess  in  my  mouth  which  had  suppurated  constantly  for  a 
year  and  n  half,  I  showed  my  reptiynance,  and  told  him  that  I  needed  to  go  back 
to  Canada  to  have  medical  treatment.    He  replied,  that  if  I  refused  this  voyage, 


ft 


E         ,/, 


m' 


'-mi 


102 


BIBLIOORAPIIIOAL   NOTICE. 


he  would  write  to  my  superiors  that  I  would  be  the  cnuce  of  the  failure  of  onr 
new  missions ;  the  reverend  father  Gabriel  do  la  Ilibourde,  who  had  been  mj 
novice  master,  begged  me  to  go,  telling  me,  that  if  I  died  of  that  inilrmity,  Ood 
would  one  day  bo  glorified  by  my  aprstolic  labors.  'True,  my  son,'  said  that 
venerable  old  man,  whose  head  was  whitened  with  more  than  forty  years'  austere 
penance,  'yuu  will  have  many  monsters  to  overcome,  and  precipices  to  pass,  in 
this  enterprise  which  requires  the  strength  of  the  most  robust;  you  do  not  know 
a  word  of  the  language  of  these  tribes  whom  you  are  going  to  endeavor  to  gain 
to  God,  but  take  com-age,  you  will  gain  as  many  victories  as  you  have  combats.' 
Considering  that  this  father  had  at  his  ago  been  ready  to  come  to  my  aid  in  the 
second  yeor  of  our  new  discoveries,  with  the  view  of  announcing  Christ  to  un- 
known tribes,  and  that  this  old  man  was  the  only  male  descendant  and  heir  of 
his  father's  house,  for  he  was  a  Burgundian  of  rank,  I  offered  to  make  the 
voyage  and  endeavor  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  tribes  among  whom  I 
hoped  soon  to  establish  myself,  and  preach  the  faith.  Tlie  sieur  de  la  Salle 
showed  me  his  satisfaction,  gave  me  a  calumet  of  peace,  and  a  canoe  with  two 
men,  one  of  whom  was  called  the  Picard  du  Gny,  who  is  now  at  Paris,  and  the 
other,  Michael  Ako;  the  latter  he  intrusted  with  some  merchandise  fit  to  make 
presents,  and  worth  ten  or  twelve  thousand  livres;  and  to  myself  he  gave  ten 
knives,  twelve  awls,  a  little  roll  of  tobacco  to  give  to  the  Indians,  about  two 
pounds  of  white  and  black  beads,  a  little  package  of  needles,  declaring  that  he 
would  have  given  me  more,  if  he  could.  In  fact,  he  is  quite  liberal  to  his  friends. 
Having  received  the  blessing  of  the  reverend  father  Gabriel,  and  taken  leave  of 
the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  and  embraced  all  the  party  who  canio  down  to  see  us  off, 
Father  Gn'yiiel  concluding  his  adieu  with  the  words,  '  Viriliter  age  ct  confortetur 
cor  tuum,'  wo  set  out  from  Fort  Cr^vecoeur  on  the  29th  of  February,"  &c. 

Can  anything  be  more  striking  than  the  difference  of  these  two  accounts;  in 
one  he  seems  a  leader,  in  the  other,  a  reluctant  member  of  the  expedition  ? 

I?ut  La  Salle  is  not  the  only  one  sacrificed  to  his  vanity.  Delivered  by  do 
Luth  from  his  Sioux  captivity,  he  seems  to  lay  that  officer  under  great  obliga- 
tions to  him,  and  disposes  of  him  so  summarily,  tliat  the  name  of  de  Luth,  after 
being  only  three  times  mcntioued,  disappears  from  his  pages,  and  he  seems  to  be 
the  commander  of  the  united  parties.  He  passes  by  one  Jesuit  mission  at  Green- 
bay  without  mentioning  its  existence,  winters  at  another  at  Mackinaw,  not  only 
without  uttering  a  word  to  induce  us  to  suppose  i  missionary  there,  but  actually 
using  expressions  which  give  us  the  idea  that  he  was  the  only  missionary  to  be 
found  in  all  those  parts,  to  minister  to  the  Christians  and  instruct  the  heathen. 
When  he  leaves  Mackinaw,  in  April,  1681,  our  Recollect  rises  still  higher  in  im- 
portance ;  he  is  fired  at  the  wrongs  of  an  Ottawa  chief,  and  apporently  consider- 
ing it  beneath  him  to  look  for  La  Salle,  or  give  him  any  account  of  the  expedi- 
tion on  which  he  had  been  sent,  proceeds  to  the  Seneca  country,  convenes  a 
council,  compels  that  haughty  tribe  to  make  amends  to  the  injured  Ottawa,  and 
returns  to  Fort  Frontenac,  after  this  somewhat  curious  proceeding  in  a  good  friar 
who  never  meddled  in  civil  affairs,  as  some  other  people  did.  He  crowns  the  whole 
by  telling  us  at  the  close  of  the  volume,  that  La  Salle  descended  to  the  gulf,  "  as  / 
had  made  peace  with  the  nations  of  the  north  and  northwest,  five  hundred  leagues 
np  the  river  Colbert>  who  made  war  on  the  Ilinois  and  southern  tribea" 


THE  WORKS   OF  FATHER  HENNEPIN, 


103 


This  is  enough  to  show  to  what  extent  even  then  he  pushed  his  scU-glorifl* 
cation.  As  to  the  object  of  his  expedition,  we  are  completely  in  the  dark ;  wo 
can  not  tell  whether  he  was  sent  to  explore  the  Illinois  to  its  mouth,  or  to  open 
intercourse  with  some  tribe  or  tribes,  where  it  was  intended  to  begin  a  mission. 
At  all  events,  he  says  nothing  of  having  been  sent  up  the  Mississippi ;  but  what> 
over  was  his  mission,  he  seems  to  have  so  well  avoided  La  Salle,  that  they  never 
met  again.  Ilennepin  hastened  back  to  France,  and  by  the  8d  of  September, 
1682,  had  the  royul  permission  to  print  his  work,  which  issued  from  the  press  on 
the  6th  of  January,  1683,  though  most  copies  have  on  the  titlepnge  the  date 
1684.  He  was  then  for  a  time,  it  would  seem,  at  Chateau  Combrcnsis,  till  or- 
dered by  his  superiors  to  return  to  America ;  this  he  refused,  and  was  in  conse- 
quence compelled  to  leave  France.  Falling  in  with  Mr.  Blaithwait,  secretary  of 
war  to  William  III.,  he  passed  to  the  service  of  the  English  king,  as  a  Spanish 
subject,  by  permission  of  his  own  sovereign  and  his  clerical  superiors,  as  he 
avers.  He  assumed  a  lay  dress  in  a  convent  at  Antwerp,  and  proceeding  to 
Utrecht,  published  in  1697,  a  new  work  entitled— 

II.  "Nouvelle  description  d'un  triis  grand  pays  situ6  dans  I'Amcrique  entre  le 
nouveau  Mexique  et  la  mer  glacialo,"  reprinted  the  next  year  as  "Nouvelle  Decou- 
verte  d'un  pays  plus  grondque  I'Europe,"  a  translation  of  which  appeared  in 
England,  in  1699,  entitled:  "A  new  discovery  of  a  vast  country  in  America,  ex- 
tending above  four  thousand  miles  between  New  France  and  New  Mexico." 

This  work  begins  with  his  own  personal  history,  and  from  it  we  derive  the 
following  data  for  a  life  of  this  worthy,  should  any  one  deem  it  worth  while  to 
attempt  it  He  was  born  at  Ath,  in  Hainault^  and  feeling  a  strong  inclination  to 
retire  from  the  world,  entered  the  order  of  St  Francis.  He  was  soon  seized 
with  a  desire  of  rambling;  and  while  studying  Dutch  at  Ghent,  was  strongly 
tempted  to  go  to  the  East  Indies,  but  was  appeased  by  a  tour  through  the  Fran- 
ciscan convents  of  Italy  ond  Germany,  back  to  Hainault,  where,  for  a  whole 
year,  he  was  compelled  to  discharge  the  ministry.  This  year  of  permanent  resi- 
dence in  one  spot  seems  to  have  been  an  epoch  in  his  erratic  life.  He  next 
roamed  to  Artois,  thence  set  out  to  beg  at  Calais,  returned  by  Dunkirk  to  Diee^ 
and  after  sauntering  through  several  Dutch  towns,  spent  eight  months  at  Mae- 
stricht,  in  the  care  of  an  hospital,  where  acquiring  some  military  ardor,  he  was 
next  an  army  chaplain  at  the  battle  of  Senef  (1674),  immediately  after  which 
he  was  sent  to  Rochelle  to  embark  for  Canada.  A  convent  life  was,  it  is  clear, 
irksome  to  him,  and  how  little  he  was  sensible  of  the  dignity  of  the  priesthood, 
either  before  God  or  man,  we  may  judge  by  this  extraordinary  admission:  "I 
used  oftentimes  to  skulk  behind  the  doors  of  victualling  houses,  to  hear  the  sea- 
men give  an  account  of  their  adventures.  ....  Tliis  occupation  wos  so  agree- 
able to  me,  that  [despite,  he  tells  us,  the  nausea  caused  by  their  smoking]  I  spent 
whole  days  and  nights  at  it  without  eating."  Arrived  in  Canada,  he  preached 
the  Advent  and  Lent  to  the  hospital  nuns  at  Quebec,  being  chosen  by  Bishop 
Laval,  whose  favor  he  had  secured  on  the  voyage  by  a  display  of  zeal  which  by 
a  train  of  incidents  drew  on  him  all  La  Salle's  enmity.  This  brings  him  to  1676, 
when  after  rambling  around  Quebec,  as  far  as  Three-Rivers,  he  was  sent  to  Fort 
Frontenao,  with  Father  Buisset  to  direct  the  Indians  gathered  there.  This  now 
became  the  centre  of  new  rambles,  which  he  extended  to  the  cantons  of  the 


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104 


BIBLIOGBAPHICAL  KOTIOB. 


Tire  Nations,  visiting  Onondaga,  Oneida,  and  the  Mohawk,  in  the  last  of  which 
while  entertained  by  the  Jesuit  missionary  (probably  Father  Bruyas),  he  copied 
his  Iroquois  dictionary,  for  in  this  work,  as  if  to  spite  his  former  friends,  he  men- 
tions those  missionaries  in  several  places  with  terms  of  praise.  He  then  visits 
Albany,  and  though  entreated  by  the  Dutch  to  stay,  returned  to  Fort  Frontenac. 
In  IfttS,  he  went  down  to  Quebec,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  received  orders  to 
join  La  Salle's  expedition.  From  this  point  his  journal  rolls  on  as  in  the  "De- 
scription de  la  Louislane,"  down  to  the  12th  of  March,  1680,  till  which  day  he 
was  detained  by  the  floating  ice,  but  here  a  new  scene  breaks  on  the  startled 
reader:  Hennepin  tells  us,  that  he  actually  went  down  the  Mississippi  to  the 
gulf,  but  had  not  published  the  faci  to  avoid  the  hostility  of  LaSalle.  Amazed  at 
80  unexpected  a  revelation,  we  read  on  carefully,  but  find  that  he  waited  till  the 
twelfth,  yet  started  on  the  eighth,  being  consequently  in  two  places  at  once, 
each  moment  during  those  four  days ;  thus  aided,  he  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  by  the  twenth-fifth,  or  at  most,  twenty-sixth  of  March,  after  cele- 
brating, on  the  2Sd  of  March,  the  festival  of  Easier  which,  unfortunately  for  his 
accuracy,  fell  that  year  on  the  2lBt  of  April,  as  he  himself  knew,  for  in  his 
former  work  (p.  242),  he  states  that  he  reached  the  Issati  village  about  Easter, 
which,  in  his  loose  style,  means  some  days  after  it  But  to  return  to  his  voyage 
down,  achieved  in  thirteen,  or  at  most,  eighteen  days ;  he  planted  a  oross  and 
wished  to  wait  a  few  days  to  make  observations,  but  his  men  refused,  and  he 
was  compelled  to  embark  again.  They  did  wait,  however,  some  days  it  seems, 
for  he  started  only  on  the  first  of  April ;  by  the  twenty-fourth,  he  had  reached 
and  left  the  Arkansas,  as  he  tells  us  in  two  different  places  (pp.  129,  137),  and 
ascending  toward  the  Illinois,  advanced  only  by  night  for  fear  of  a  surprise  by 
the  French  of  Fort  Crfivecoeur.  By  the  twelfth  of  the  same  month  of  April, 
being  twelve  days  before  he  reached  the  Arkansas,  he  was  taken  by  the  Sioux  a 
hundred  and  fifty  leagues  above  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois,  making  all  that  dis- 
tance from  the  gulf  in  eleven  days,  and  the  distance  from  the  Arkansas,  in  con- 
aiderably  less  than  no  time  at  all. 

From  this  pointy  it  continues  with  but  occasional  variations,  as  in  the  De- 
teription  de  la  Louisiane,  except  that  de  Luth  appears  more  frequently  down  to 
their  ascending  the  Wisconsin. 

Tlie  second  part,  or  second  volume,  contains  an  account  of  La  Salle's  last 
voyage,  in  which  Father  Anastasius  is  frequently  cited ;  the  subsequent  part, 
from  page  49  tu  161,  treats  of  the  manners,  and  customs  of  the  Indians,  and 
their  conversion,  and  then  follows  an  account  of  the  capture  of  Quebec,  in  1628, 
by  the  English,  and  of  the  early  Recollect  missions. 

Two  things  in  this  volume  at  once  meet  us,  the  horrible  confusion  of  dates; 
and  the  utter  impossibility  of  performing  the  voyages  in  the  times  given. 
These  objections  were  made  at  the  time,  but  were  stoutly  met  by  Hennepin,  al- 
though the  former  seems  not  to  have  been  much  attended  to  by  him.  He  gives 
us,  however,  a  dissertation  on  the  variation  of  the  needle,  and  the  difference  of 
time  in  Europe  and  America,  wliich  had  confused  him  somewhat  in  his  ideas, 
and  prevented  his  accuracy  in  that  point  As  to  the  impracticability  of  the  mat- 
ter, he  denies  it,  averring  that  he  had  time  enough  and  to  spare,  as  a  bark  canoe 
ean,  if  necessary,  go  ninety  miles  a  day  up  stream  I 


f    ■.f.  't 


THB  WORKS  OF  FATHEB  HENNEPm. 


105 


But  a  heavier  charge  was  made  when  his  new  work  wab  compared  to  the 
Utablitaement  de  la  Foi ;  his  new  journal  down  was  but  a  set  of  scraps  from  that 
of  Father  Membre,  and  the  reader  may  verify  the  truth  of  this  charge  by  exam- 
ining the  parallel  passages  given  by  the  accurate  and  judicious  Sparks,  in  his  life 
of  La  Salle,  or  by  comparing  Membr^'s  journal  in  this  volume  with  the  English 
Hennepin,  or  even  with  the  abridgment  of  it  in  vol.  i.,  of  Histoi'ical  Collections 
of  Louisiana.  Hennepin  admits  the  similarity,  and  accuses  le  Clercq  or  le  Roux, 
wliom  he  asserts  to  bo  the  real  author,  of  having  published  as  Membre's,  his^ 
Hennepin's  journal,  which  he  had  lent  to  le  Roux,  at  Quebec.  Let  us  hear  hia 
own  words:  "But  if  I  do  not  blame  Father  le  Clercq  for  the  honorable  mention 
he  makes  of  his  relative  (Membr^),  I  think  everybody  will  condemn  hitn  for  hia 
concealing  the  name  of  the  author  he  has  transcribed,  and  thereby  attributing  to 
himself  (?  Membr^  or  le  Clercq),  the  glory  of  my  perilous  voyage.  This  piece  of 
injustice  is  common  enough  in  this  age." 

Sparks,  who  has  thehonor  of  having  completely  exposed  Hennepin,  and"the  in- 
justice common  in  that  age,"  which  induced  Hennepin,  le  Clercq,  Douay,  Joutel, 
and  others,  to  endeavor  to  rob  Marquette  of  the  glory  duo  to  his  perilous  voyage^ 
shows  this  pretext  of  Hennepin  to  be  groundless.  We  might  stop  to  examine  it, 
if  only  here  he  had  copied  le  Clercq ;  but>  on  examination,  we  find  that  almost 
all  the  additional  matter  in  the  Kouvelle  Decouverte  is  drawn  from  the  Etahliait- 
ment  de  la  Foi,  and  almost  literally.  This  is  the  case  with  the  whole  second 
part,  where,  though  he  cites  Father  Anastasius^  he  copies  the  remarks  of  the 
author  of  the  Etahlissement.  What  relates  to  the  Indians  is  I'lIT  of  extracts  from 
the  latter  work,  and  the  capture  of  Quebec,  and  the  early  missions  are  mere 
copies.  In  the  edition  of  1720,  which  Charlevoix  calls  the  second,  and,  perhaps, 
in  some  previous  edition  the  amount  of  stolen  matter  is  still  larger ;  but  some 
was  of  such  a  nature  as  to  bring  ecclesiastical  censure  on  the  work.  For,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  Hennepin  residing  unfrocked  in  Holland,  the  flatterer  and  pen- 
sioner of  William  IH„  seems  to  have  remained  a  Catholic  and  Franciscan  to  the 
last ;  at  least  I  have  seen  nothing  to  establish  the  contrary.  Had  interest  or 
ambition  been  his  only  motive,  he  would  certainly  have  thrown  off  both  titles 
at  a  time  when  the  frenzy  of  religious  animosity  possessed  the  English  public. 

But  while  doing  him  this  justice,  tisat  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  led  by 
interest  or  ambition  of  place,  while  admitting  thnt  many  of  his  descriptions  are 
graphic,  and  to  some  extent  reliable,  we  say  all  that  can  be  said  in  his  favor. 
Where  in  the  main  fact  he  is  supported  by  others,  we  have  followed  him  with 
caution  in  details,  but  we  must  admit  thnt  the  charges  brought  against  him  are 
too  well  substantiated  to  allow  us  hesitate  as  to  his  character. 

A  question  still  remains  as  to  what  he  really  did  do  on  leaving  Fort  Criive- 
cceur.  In  his  first  work,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  he  states  that  he  was 
sent  to  explore  the  Illinois  to  its  mouth,  or  to  visit  some  tribes  where  a  mission 
was  to  be  established ;  and  he  tells  us  that  he  had  some  design  of  going  down 
the  Mississippi  to  the  gulf,  but  he  nowhere  says  that  he  ascended  it  before  ho 
was  taken.  In  the  last,  he  was  sent  to  the  Mississippi,  and  the  tribes  on  it  to 
get  the  friendship  of  the  nations  inhabiting  its  banks,  and  as  he  tells  us  he  went 
down.  In  both,  at  a  very  late  period,  he  tells  us  that  La  Salle  promised  to  send 
him  further  supplies  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin. 


106 


BIBLIOGBAFHIOAL  NOTIOB. 


In  neither  bare  we  anj  Journal  of  his  voyage  np  the  river;  the  geographical 
description  is  not  tliat  of  a  traveller  ascending,  as  be  describes  first  what  he  saw 
last ;  and  though  voyaging  with  Sioux,  gives  the  Wisconsin  the  same  name  as 
Marquette,  who  reached  it  through  the  Outaganiis.  What  then  did  he  do  be- 
tween March  12th,  and  April  12th  t  This  must  remain  a  mystery.  That  he 
went  down  to  the  gulf,  is  too  absurd  to  be  received  for  a  moment ;  that  he  went 
np  is  nowhere  asserted  by  him,  and  is,  I  think,  very  doubtful.  For  my  own 
part,  I  should  rather  believe  that  he  was  taken  in  an  attempt  to  descend,  or  in 
some  way  acting  contrary  to  the  directions  of  La  Salle.  His  evident  avoiding 
of  the  latter  is  suspicious^  and  shows  that  he  could  not  give  a  satisfaotoiy  ac- 
count of  his  proceedings;  for  wintering  at  Mackinaw,  he  must  have  known  that 
La  Salle  had  passed  out  to  rejoin  them  at  Fort  Grdvecceur,  and  that  his  own 
companions  had  been  compelled  to  leave  the  fort,  and  were  then  at  Green  bay.* 
Then,  too,  as  to  his  description  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  I  am  inclined  to  think 
it  due  to  de  Luth,  who,  as  le  Clercq  tells  us,  was  the  first  to  reach  the  lake  of 
the  Issatis^  and  open  the  way  to  the  missionaries;  this  seems  more  probable  as  in 
his  last  work  Hennepin  attacks  de  Luth,  and  endeavors  to  destroy  the  credit,  as 
though  de  Luth  could  and,  perhaps,  did  tell  another  story.  It  will,  therefore, 
be  a  matter  of  interest  to  learn  whether  any  reports  of  his  are  still  to  be  found, 
OS  the  mere  fact  of  Hennepin's  attacking  him  gives  them  considerable  value. 

In  the  meantime  Hennepin's  account  of  the  upper  Mississippi  must  stand  as 
first  published,  though  we  can  not  tell  how  much  of  it  he  really  saw ;  standing 
on  its  own  merits^  it  is  an  account  which  the  first  American  explorers  of  the 
upper  river  compared  as  they  went  along,  and  found  sufiiciently  accurate  in  one 
who  could  only  guess  at  the  various  distances  which  he  had  to  mention.  As  a 
valuable  paper  connected  with  the  discoveries  of  the  Mississippi,  we  insert  it 
here,  regretting  our  inability  to  give  in  justice  a  more  flattering  portrait  of  the 
writer. 

"  Hennepin  left  Mackinaw  on  Easter  week,  1681  (April  6-13),  and  F.  MembrC  arrived  there  on 
the  13th  of  June,  and  La  Salle  from  lUinoig,  about  the  fifteenth.  On  Vol.  I.,  p.  59,  of  this  aeriet, 
there  is  a  typographical  error  Fete  Dieu,  in  October,  should  be  Octav;  of  Corpus  Chriiti,  being 
that  year  June  Uth. 


NARRATIVE 

OF  THE  VOTAOE 

TO    THE    UPPER   MISSISSIPPI, 

BY 

FATHER  LOUIS  HENNEPIN. 

VKOVl  HIS  "DESCRIPTION  DE  LA  LOUISIANE,"  PRINTED  AT  PARIS,  IN  1663. 


WE  set  out  from  Fort  Cr^vecceur  the  29th  of  February, 
1680,  and  toward  evening,  while  descending  the 
Seignelay  [Ilinois],  we  met  on  the  way  several  parties  of 
Islinois*  returning  to  their  village  in  their  periaguas  or  gon- 
dolas, loaded  with  meat.  ^They  would  have  obliged  us  to 
return,  our  two  boatmen  were  even  shaken,  but  as  they  would 
have  had  to  pass  by  Fort  Cr^vecceur,  where  our  Frenchmen 
would  have  stopped  them,  we  pursued  our  way  the  next  day, 
and  my  two  men  afterward  confessed  the  design  which  they 
had  entertained.f 

*  We  have  reUuned  Hennepin's  orthography  of  proper  names  throughout  thii 
narrative. 

f  Hennepin's  party,  according  to  his  account,  consisted  of  himself  and  two 
men,  Anthony  Auguelle,  commonly  called  the  Picard  du  Gay,  and  Michael  Aka 
The  latter  was  intrusted  by  La  Salle  with  the  goods,  and  is  probably  the  sieur 
Dacan  of  some  other  writers,  as  Mr.  Sparks  informs  me,  that  he  saw  manuscripts 
in  which  it  was  written  d'Acau.  Hennepin  in  the  preface  to  the  first  part  of  the 
English  Tolume,  chaises  La  Salle  with  having  maliciously  caused  the  death  of 
one  of  his  two  companions,  meaning  Ako,  as  he  represents  the  other  to  be  alive. 


«i 


108 


NABBATIVB  OF  FATHER  HEXNEPm. 


The  river  Seignelay  on  which  we  were  Bailing,  is  as  deep 
and  broad  as  the  Seine,  at  Paris,  and  in  two  or  three  places 
widens  out  to  a  quarter  of  a  league.  It  is  lined  with  hills, 
whose  sides  are  covered  with  fine  large  trees.  Some  of  these 
hills  are  half  a  league  apart,  leaving  between  them  a  marshy 
strip  often  inundated,  especially  in  the  spring  and  fall,  but 
producing,  nevertheless,  quite  large  trees.  On  ascending 
these  hills,  you  discover  prairies  further  than  the  eye  can 
reach,  studded  at  intervals,  with  groves  of  tall  trees,  appa- 
rently planted  there  intentionally.  The  current  of  the  river 
is  not  perceptible,  except  in  time  of  great  rains ;  it  is  at  all 
times  navigable  for  large  barks  about  a  hundred  leagues,  from 
its  mouth  to  the  Islinois  village,  whence  its  course  almost  al- 
ways runs  south  by  southwest. 

On  the  7th  of  March,  we  found,  about  two  leagues 
from  its  month,  a  nation  called  Tamaroa,  or  Maroa,  com- 
posed of  two  hundred  familes.  They  would  have  taken 
us  to  their  village  west  of  the  river  Colbert  (Mississippi), 
six  or  seven  leagues  below  the  mouth  of  the  river  Seigne- 
lay; but  our  two  canoemen,  in  hopes  of  still  greater  gain, 
preferred  to  pass  on,  according  to  the  advice  I  then  gave 
them.  These  last  Indians  seeing  that  we  carried  iron  and 
arms  to  their  enemies,  and  unable  to  overtake  us  in  their 
periaguas,  which  are  wooden  canoes,  much  heavier  than  our 
bark  ones,  which  went  much  faster  tlian  their  boats,  despatched 
their  young  men  after  us  by  land,  to  pierce  us  with  their  ar- 
rows at  some  narrow  part  of  the  river,  but  in  vain ;  for  soon 
after  discovering  the  fire  made  by  these  warriors  at  their 
ambuscade,  we  crossed  the  river  at  once,  and  gaining  the 
other  side,  encamped  in  an  island,  leaving  our  canoe  loaded 
and  our  little  dog  to  wake  as,  so  as  to  embark  with  all  speed, 
should  the  Indians  attempt  to  surprise  us  by  swimming  across. 


BISOOYEBIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


109 


Soon  after  leaving  these  Indians,  wjq  can^e  to  the  mouth  of 
the  River  Seignelay,  fifty  leagues  distant  from  Fort  Or^ve- 
coeur,  and  about  a  hundred  from  the  great  Islinois  village.  It 
is  between  36°  and  37°  N.  latitude,  and  consequently  one 
hundred  and  twenty  or  thirty  leagues  from  the  gulf  of  Mexico. 

In  the  angle  formed  on  the  south  by  this  river,  at  its  mouth, 
is  a  flat  precipitous  rock,  about  forty  feet  high,  very  well  suited 
for  building  a  fort.  On  the  northern  side,  opposite  the  rock, 
and  on  the  west  side  beyond  the  river,  are  fields  of  black 
earth,  the  end  of  which  yon  can  not  see,  all  ready  for  cultiva- 
tion, which  would  be  very  advantageous  for  the  existence  of 
a  colony. 

The  ice  which  floated  down  from  the  north  kept  us  in  this 
place  till  the  12th  of  March,  when  we  continued  our  route, 
traversing  the  river  and  sounding  on  all  sides  to  see  whether 
it  was  navigable.  There  are,  indeed,  three  islets  in  the  mid- 
dle, near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Seignelay,  which  stop  the 
floating  wood  and  trees  from  the  north,  and  form  several  large 
sand-bars,  yet  the  channels  are  deep  enough,  and  there  is 
sufficient  water  for  barks ;  large  flat-boats  can  pass  there  at 
all  times. 

The  Biver  Colbert  runs  south-southwest,  and  comes  from 
the  north  and  northwest;  it  inins  between  two  chains  of 
mountains,  quite  small  here,  which  wind  with  the  river,  and 
in  some  places  are  pretty  far  from  the  banks,  so  that  oetween 
the  mountains  and  the  river,  there  are  large  prairies,  where 
you  often  see  herds  of  wild  cattle  browsing.  In  other  places 
these  eminences  leave  semi-circular  spots  covered  with  grass 
or  wood.  Beyond  these  mountains  you  discover  vast  plains, 
but  the  more  we  approach  the  northern  side  ascending,  the 
earth  became  apparently  less  fertile,  and  the  woods  less  beau- 
tiful than  in  the  Islinois  country. 


|!  ^i 


no 


ITABBATIVB  OV  FATUBB  nSHKBPIlf. 


This  great  river  is  almost  everywhere  a  short  league  in 
width,  and  in  some  place,  two  or  three ;  it  is  divided  hy  a 
number  of  islands  covered  with  trees,  interlaced  with  so  many 
vines  as  to  be  almost  impassable.  It  receives  no  consider- 
able river  on  the  western  side  except  that  of  the  Otontenta,* 
and  another,  St.  Feter's,f  which  comes  from  the  west  north- 
west, seven  or  eight  leagues  from  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's 
falls. 

On  the  eastern  side  you  meet  first  an  inconsiderable  river 
(Bock  river),  and  then  further  on  another,  called  by  the  In- 
dians Onisconsin,  or  Misconsin,  which  comes  from  the  east 
and  east-northeast.  Sixty  leagues  up  you  leave  it,  and  make 
a  portage  of  half  a  league  to  reach  the  Bay  of  the  Fetid  (Pnants) 
by  another  river  which,  near  its  course,  meanders  most  curi- 
ously. It  is  almost  as  large  as  the  river  Seignelay,  or  Ilinois, 
and  empties  into  the  river  Colbert,  a  hundred  leagues  above 
the  river  Seignelay.:^ 

*  This  would  seem  the  DeBlnoine^  the  largest  south  of  St  Petei's^  but  the  Iowa 
is  not  much  inferior,  and  would  better  suit  his  description  as  being  near  half 
way  between  the  Illinois  and  Lake  Pepin.  The  name,  too,  would  induce  us  to 
pat  it  higher,  as  he  doubtless  means  the  tribe  called  by  Membr^  Aathouiantaa,  and 
by  Marquette  on  his  map,  Otontanta,  the  same  as  the  former,  if  m  and  n  are 
tnuisposed. 

f  The  SL  Peter^s  river  flows  through  the  centre  of  the  Sioux  territorien^  and  is 
a  magnificent  river.  It  was  visited  by  Le  Sueur,  the  fVench  geologist,  as  early  as 
1688  {Hiit.  Coll,  La.,  vol.  iii.X  and  is  very  correctly  described  by  him.  It  is  re- 
markable for  its  mineral  deposites,  and  the  variety  of  clays  found  on  its  banks^ 
which  are  employed  by  the  Indians  in  painting  their  faces  and  bodies.  Its  waters 
•re  transparent,  hence  the  Indian  name  of  wate-paw-men^nurate,  or  clear  water 
river.  The  Minoknntongs,  or  people  of  the  waters,  are  located  about  its  mouth, 
and  the  Tengetongs,  and  the  Sissitongs,  inhabit  the  upper  part  of  it  (School- 
craft); their  principal  traffic  is  in  buffalo-robes.  The  numerical  strength  of  the 
Sioux  nation  is  now  estimated  at  about  twenty-two  thousand. — ^F 

X  It  must  have  been  just  here  that  he  was  taken  by  the  Sioux,  if  he  sailed  up 
the  Mississippi  before  his  capture,  for  he  had  gone  two  hundred  leagues  after 
leaving  the  lUinois,  who  were  one  hundred  leagues  from  the  month  of  their  river, 
and  the  other  one  hundred  would  bring  him  to  the  Wisconsin;  though  if  ha 
oonnts  the  hundred  on  the  Dlinoia  £rom  the  village  proper,  and  not  firom  tha 


DISOOYBBIES   IN  1BE  MISSISSIPPI  TALLBT. 


Ill 


Twenty-four  leagues  above,  you  come  to  the  Black  river 
called  by  the  Nadouessious,  or  Islati  Ohabadeba,  or  Oha- 
baaudeba,  it  seems  quite  inconsiderable.  Thirty  leagues 
higher  up,  yon  find  the  lake  of  Tears  (Lake  Pepin),  which 
we  so  named,  because  some  of  the  Indians  who  had  taken  us, 
wishing  to  kill  us,  wept  the  whole  night,  to  induce  the  others  to 
consent  to  our  death.  Tliis  lake  which  is  formed  by  the 
Biver  Colbert,  is  seven  leagues  long,  and  about  four  wide ; 
there  is  no  considerable  current  in  the  middle  that  we  could 
perceive,  but  only  at  its  entrance  and  exit.*  Half  a  league 
below  the  lake  of  Tears,  on  the  south  side,  is  Buffalo  river,  full 
of  turtles.  It  is  so  called  by  the  Indians  on  account  of  the 
numbers  of  buffalo  {bmufs)  found  there.  "We  followed  it  for 
ten  or  twelve  leagues ;  it  empties  impetuously  into  the  river 
Golbert,  but  as  you  ascend  it,  it  is  constantly  calm  and  free 
from  rapids.  It  is  skirted  by  mountains,  far  enough  off  at 
times  to  form  prairies.  The  mouth  is  wooded  both  sides,  and 
is  full  as  large  as  that  of  the  Seignelay. 

Forty  leagues  above  is  a  river  full  of  i.  !  ids  (St.  Croix),  by 
which,  striking  northwest,  you  can  reach  Lake  Cond6  (Su- 
perior), that  is,  as  far  as  Nimissakouat  river,-)-  which  empties 
into  the  lake.    This  first  river  is  called  Tomb  river,  because  the 


W    'i 


oamp,  we  must  go  thirty  leagues  further,  above  Black  river.  But  if  captured 
here,  how  could  it  have  taken  the  Indians,  rowing  from  morning  till  nighty  nine* 
teen  days  to  reach  St.  Anthony's  falls? 

*  This  beautiful  sheet  of  water  is  an  expansion  of  the  Mississippi  river,  six 
miles  below  the  Sioux  village  of  Talangamanae,  and  one  hundred  below  the  falls 
of  St  Anthony.  It  is  indented  with  several  bays  and  prominent  points  which 
serve  to  enhance  the  beauty  of  its  scenery.  A  few  miles  below  this  lake,  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  are  the  remains  of  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
extensive  of  those  ancient  circumvallations,  which  are  spread  over  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi    It  was  first  described  by  Carver,  in  1*768. — Y. 

f  This  is  probably  the  St  Louis  which,  on  the  map  of  the  Jesuit  Relation  of 
1670-"71  (Bancroft,  vol.  iii.),  is  marked  as  the  way  to  the  Sioux,  sixty  leagues 
west,  being  nearly  the  distance  here  given  by  Hennepin  between  Millelacs  and 
lake  Superior. 


3^. 


US 


NABBATIVK  OF  FATHER  HENNEPm. 


Issati  left  there  the  body  of  one  of  their  warriors,  killed  by  a 
rattlesnake.  According  to  their  cnstom,  I  put  a  blanket  on  the 
grave,  which  act  of  humanity  gained  me  much  importance  by 
the  gratitude  displayed  by  the  deceased's  countrymen,  in  a 
great  banquet  which  they  gave  ine  in  their  country,  and  to 
which  more  than  a  hundred  Indians  were  invited. 

Continuing  to  ascend  the  Colbert  ten  or  twelve  leagues 
more,  the  navigation  is  interrupted  by  a  fall,  which  I  called 
8t.  Anthony  of  Padua's,  in  gratitude  for  the  favors  done 
me  by  the  Almighty  through  the  intercession  of  that  great 
saint,  whom  we  had  chosen  patron  and  protector  of  all  our 
enterprises.  This  fall  is  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  divided  in 
the  middle  by  a  rocky  island  of  pyramidal  form.*  The  high 
mountains  which  skii*t  the  river  Colbert  last  only  as  far  as 
the  river  Onisconsin,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  leagues ; 
at  this  place  it  begins  to  flow  from  the  west  and  northwest, 
without  our  having  been  able  to  learn  from  the  Indians,  who 
have  ascended  it  very  far,  where  it  rises.  They  merely  told 
us  that  twenty  or  thirty  leagues  below  (dessous),  there  is  a 
eecond  fall,  at  the  foot  of  which  are  some  villages  of  the 
prairie  people,  called  Thinthonha,  who  live  there  a  part  of  the 
year.  Eight  leagues  above  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's  falls  on 
the  right,  you  find  the  Issati  or  Nadoussion  river  (Rum  river), 
with  a  very  narrow  month,  which  you  can  ascend  to  the  north 
for  about  seventy  leagues  to  Lake  Buade  or  Issati  (Mille 
lake),  where  it  rises.    We  called  this  St.  Francis  river.    This 

*  These  celebrated  falls,  now  no  longer  beyond  the  pale  of  civilication,  have 
been  much  better  described  by  modern  travellers.  Schoolcraft  places  them 
fonrteen  miles  below  the  confluence  of  the  Mississawgaeigon,  or  Rum  river.  The 
village  of  St  Anthony  with  its  schools  and  its  churches  now  occupies  the  east 
bank  of  the  river  nt  the  head  of  the  cataract.  The  scenery  is  picturesque  and 
beautiful,  but  presents  none  of  that  majesty  and  grandeur  which  belong  to  the 
cataract  of  Niagara.  The  Indian  name  of  these  falls  in  the  Sioux  language,  is 
Owah-menah,  or  the  falling  water. — ^F. 


DI8(    iVrr.lKS   TT  TIIK   ]\li-iI88IPPI  VALLEY. 


118 


last  lake  spreads  oiif  lut  m\;il  marshes,  producing  wild-rice, 
like  many  other  pi.,  rs  down  to  the  extremity  of  the  Bay  of  the 
Fetid.  This  kind  of  grain  grows  wild  in  marshy  places :  it 
resembles  oats,  but  tastes  better,  and  the  stems  are  longer  as 
well  as  the  stalk.  The  Indians  gather  it  when  ripe.  The 
women  tie  several  stalks  together  with  white  wood  bark  to 
prevent  its  being  all  devoured  by  the  flocks  of  duck  and  teal 
found  there.  The  Indians  lay  in  a  stock  for  part  of  the  year, 
to  eat  out  of  the  hunting  season. 

Lake  Buade,  or  Lake  of  the  Issati  (MiVio  lake),  is  about 
Beventy  leagues  west  of  Lake  Condo ;  it  is  impossible  to  go 
from  one  to  the  other  on  account  of  the  marehy  and  quaggy 
nature  of  the  ground ;  you  might  go,  though  with  difficulty 
on  the  snow  in  snowshoes ;  by  water  it  is  a  hundred  and  fifty 
leagues,  on  account  of  the  many  detours  to  be  made,  and 
there  are  many  portages.  From  Lake  Conde,  to  go  conveni- 
ently in  canoe,  you  must  pass  by  Tomb  river,  where  we  found 
only  the  bones  of  the  Indian  whom  I  mentioned  above,  the 
bears  having  eaten  the  flesh,  and  pulled  up  poles  which  the 
deceased's  relatives  had  planted  in  form  of  a  monument.  One 
of  our  boatmen  found  a  war-calumet  beside  the  grave,  and  an 
earthen  pot  upset,  in  which  the  Indians  had  left  fat  buffalo 
meat,  to  assist  the  departed,  as  they  say,  in  making  his  jour- 
ney to  the  land  of  souls. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Buade  are  many  other  lakes, 
whence  issue  several  rivers,  on  the  banks  of  which  live  the 
Issati,  Nadouessans,  Tinthonha  (which  means  prairie-men), 
Chongaskethon,  Dog,  or  Wolf  tribe  (for  chonga  among  these 
nations  means  dnn;  or  wolf),  and  other  tribes,  all  which  we 
comprise  under  the  name  Nadonessiou.  These  Indians  num- 
ber eight  or  nine  thousand  warriore,  very  brave,  great  run- 
ners, and  very  good  bowmen.  It  was  by  a  part  of  these  triben 

8 


T'  ^'^! 


iij!. 


Al^ 


w 


p** 


114 


KARRATTVB  OF  FATHER  HBNNXPIIff 


that  I  and  our  two  canoemen  were  taken  in  the  following 
way : — 

We  Bcrupiilonsly  said  our  morning  and  evening  prayers 
every  day  on  embarking,  and  the  Angelus  at  noon,  adding 
Bome  paraphrases  on  the  Eesponso  of  St.  Bonaventure  in  honor 
of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua.  In  tliis  way  we  begged  of  God  to 
meet  these  Indians  by  day,  for  when  they  discover  people  at 
night,  they  kill  tliein  as  enemies,  to  rob  those  whom  they 
murder  secretly  of  sotne  axes  or  knives  which  they  value  more 
than  we  do  gold  and  silver;  they  even  kill  their  own  allies, 
when  they  can  conceal  their  death,  so  as  afterward  to  boast 
of  having  killed  men,  and  so  pass  for  soldiers. 

We  had  considered  the  river  Colbert  with  great  pleasure, 
and  without  hinderancc,  to  know  whether  it  was  navigable 
up  and  down :  we  were  loaded  with  seven  or  eight  largo 
turkeys,  which  multiply  of  themselves  in  these  parts.  "We 
wanted  neither  buffalo  nor  deer,  nor  beaver,  nor  fish,  nor 
bear  meat,  fur  we  killed  those  animals  as  they  swam  across 
the  river. 

Our  prayers  were  heard  when,  on  the  11th  of  April,  1680, 
about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  we  suddenly  perceived 
thirty-three  bark  canoes,  manned  by  a  hundred  and  twenty 
Indians,  coming  down  with  extraordinary  speed,  to  make 
war  on  the  Miamis,  Islinois,  and  Maroa.  These  Indians  sur- 
rounded us,  and  while  at  a  distance,  discharged  some  arrows 
at  us ;  but  as  they  approached  our  canoe  the  old  men  seeing 
us  with  the  calumet  of  peace  in  our  hands,  prevented  the 
young  men  from  killing  us.  These  brutal  men  leaping  from 
their  canoes,  some  on  land,  othera  into  the  water  with  fright- 
ful cries  and  yells,  approached  us,  and  as  we  made  no  re- 
sistance, being  only  three  against  so  great  a  number,  one  of 
them  wrenched  our  calumet  from  our  hands,  while  our  canoe 


DISOOTERIKS   IN  THE  MI88I88IPFI  VALLKT. 


116 


and  tlieira  wero  tied  to  the  8horo.  Wo  firet  presented  them  a 
piece  of  French  tobacco,  better  for  smoking  than  theirs,  and 
the  eldest  among  them  uttered  the  words  Miamiha,  Miamiha. 
As  we  did  not  understand  their  language,  wo  took  a  little 
stick,  and  by  signs  which  we  made  on  the  sand,  showed  them 
that  their  enemies,  the  Miamis  whom  they  sought,  had  fled 
across  the  river  Oolbert  to  join  the  Islinois ;  when  they  saw 
themselves  discovered  and  unable  to  surprise  their  enemies, 
three  or  four  old  men,  laying  their  hands  on  my  head,  wept  in 
a  lugubrious  tone.  With  a  wretched  handkerchief  I  had  left, 
I  wiped  away  their  teara,  but  they  would  not  smoke  our 
peace-calumet.  They  made  us  cross  the  river  with  great 
cries,  which  all  shouted  together  with  tears  in  their  eyes ; 
they  made  us  row  before  them,  and  we  heard  yells  capable 
of  striking  the  most  resolute  with  terror.  After  landing  our 
canoe  and  goods,  part  of  which  had  been  already  taken,  we 
made  a  fire  to  boil  our  kettle ;  we  gave  them  two  largo 
wild  turkeys  that  we  had  killed.  These  Indians  having  called 
an  assembly  to  deliberate  what  they  were  to  do  with  us ;  the 
two  head-chiefs  of  the  party  approaching,  showed  us,  by 
signs,  that  the  warriora  wished  to  tomahawk  us.  This  com- 
pelled me  to  go  to  the  war  chiefs  with  one  of  my  men, 
leaving  the  other  by  our  property,  and  throw  into  their  midst 
six  axes,  fifteen  knives,  and  six  fathom  of  our  black  tobacco, 
then  bowing  down  my  head,  I  showed  them,  with  an  axe,  that 
they  might  kill  us,  if  they  thought  proper.  This  present  ap- 
peased many  individual  members,  who  gave  us  some  beaver 
to  eat,  putting  the  three  first  morsels  in  our  mouth  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  country,  and  blowing  on  the  meat  which 
was  too  hot,  before  putting  their  bark  dish  before  us,  to  let  us 
eat  as  we  liked  ;  we  spent  the  night  in  anxiety,  because  be- 
fore retiring  at  night,  they  had  returned  us  our  peace-calumet. 


116 


NARnATIVE   OF  FATHER   HENNEPIN. 


Onr  two  boatmen  were,  however,  resolved  to  se  '  their  lives 
dearly,  and  to  resist  if  attacked  ;  their  arms  and  swords  were 
ready.  As  for  my  own  part,  I  determined  to  allow  myself 
to  be  killed  without  any  resistance,  as  I  was  going  to  an- 
nounce to  them  a  God,  who  had  been  falsely  accused,  unjustly 
condemned,  and  cruelly  crucified,  without  showing  the  least 
aversion  to  those  who  put  him  to  death.  We  watched  in  tuni 
in  our  anxiety  so  as  not  to  be  surprised  asleep. 

In  the  morning,  April  12th,  one  of  their  captains  named 
Narrhetoba,  with  his  face  and  bare  body  smeared  with  paint, 
asked  me  for  our  peace-calumet,  filled  i  with  tobacco  of  his 
country,  made  all  his  band  smoke  fii  t,  and  then  all  the 
othera  who  plotted  our  ruin.  He  then  gt  e  us  to  understand 
that  we  must  go  with  them  to  their  cc  ntry,  and  they  all 
turned  back  with  us;  having  thus  broke  off  their  voyage,  I 
was  not  sorry  in  this  conjuncture  to  co  inue  our  discovery 
with  these  people. 

But  my  greatest  trouble  was,  that  I  fouu .  it  difficult  to  say 
my  office  before  these  Indians,  many  seeing  me  move  my 
lips  said,  in  a  fierce  tone,  Ouackanche;  and  as  we  did  not 
know  a  word  of  their  language,  we  believed  that  they  were 
angry  at  it.  Michael  Ako,  all  out  of  countenance,  told  me, 
that  if  I  continued  to  say  my  breviary  we  should  all  three  be 
killed,  and  the  Picard  begged  rae  at  least  to  pray  apart,  so 
as  not  to  provoke  them.  I  followed  the  latter's  advice,  but 
the  more  I  concealed  myself,  the  more  I  had  the  Indians  at 
my  heels,  for  when  I  entered  the  wood,  they  thought  I  was 
going  to  hide  some  goods  under  ground,  so  that  I  knew  not 
on  what  side  to  turn  to  pray,  for  they  never  let  me  out  of 
sight.  This  obliged  me  to  beg  pardon  of  my  two  canoemen, 
assuring  them  that  I  could  not  dispense  with  saying  my  office, 
that  if  we  were  massacred  for  that,  I  would  be  the  innocent 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  ME(SI88IPPI  VALLEY. 


117 


cause  of  their  death,  as  well  as  of  my  own.  By  the  word 
Ouakanchd,  the  Indians  meant  that  the  book  I  was  reading 
was  a  spirit ;  but  by  their  gesture  they  nevertheless  showed  a 
kind  of  aversion,  so  that  to  accustom  them  to  it,  I  chanted  the 
litany  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  canoe  with  my  book  open. 
They  thought  that  the  breviary  was  a  spirit  which  taught  mo 
to  sing  for  their  diversion,  for  these  people  are  naturally  fond 
of  singing. 

The  outrages  done  us  by  these  Indians  during  our  whole 
route  was  incredible,  for  seeing  that  our  canoe  was  much 
larger  and  more  heavily  laden  than  theirs  (for  they  have  only 
a  quiver  full  of  arrows,  a  bow,  and  a  wretched  dressed  skin, 
to  serve  too  as  a  blanket  at  night,  for  it  was  still  pretty  cold 
at  that  season,  always  going  north),  and  that  we  could  not  go 
faster  than  they,  they  put  some  warriors  with  us  to  help  us 
row,  to  oblige  us  to  follow  them.  These  Indians  sometimes 
make  thirty  or  forty  leagues,  when  at  war  and  pressed  for 
time,  or  anxious  to  surprise  some  enemy.  Those  who  had 
taken  us  were  of  various  villages  and  of  different  opinions  as 
to  us ;  we  cabined  every  night  by  the  young  chief  who  had 
asked  for  our  peace-calumet,  and  put  ourselves  under  his  pro- 
tection ;  but  jealousy  arose  among  these  Indians,  so  that  the 
chief  of  the  party  named  Aquipaguetin,  one  of  whose  sons 
had  been  killed  by  the  Miamis,  seeing  that  he  could  not 
avenge  his  death  on  that  nation  as  he  had  wished,  turned  all 
his  rage  on  us.  He  wept  through  almost  every  night  him  he 
had  lost  in  war,  to  oblige  those  who  had  come  out  to  avenge 
him,  to  kill  us  and  seize  all  we  had,  so  as  to  be  able  to  per^ 
sue  his  enemies ;  but  those  who  liked  European  goods  were 
much  disposed  to  preserve  us,  so  as  to  attract  other  French- 
men there  and  get  iron,  which  is  extremely  precious  in  their 
eyes ;  but  of  which  they  knew  the  great  utility  only  when 


m 


118 


KABBATIVE  OF  FATHEB  HENNEFm. 


they  saw  one  of  our  French  boatmen  kill  three  or  four  bus- 
tards or  turkeys  at  a  single  shot,  while  they  can  scarcely  kill 
only  one  with  an  arrow.  In  consequence,  as  we  afterward 
learned,  that  the  words  Manza  Onackang6,  mean  ^'  iron  that 
has  understanding,"  and  so  these  nations  call  a  gun  which 
breaks  a  man's  bones,  while  their  arrows  only  glance  through 
the  flesh  they  pierce,  rarely  breaking  the  bones  of  those  whom 
they  strike,  and  consequently  producing  wounds  more  easily 
cured  than  those  made  by  our  European  guns,  which  often 
cripple  those  whom  they  wound.  " 

We  had  some  design  of  going  to  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Colbert,  which  more  probably  empties  into  the  gulf  of  Mexico 
than  into  the  Eed  sea ;  but  the  tribes  that  seized  us,  gave  us 
no  time  to  sail  up  and  down  the  river. 

We  had  made  about  two  hundred  leagues  by  water  since 
leaving  the  Islinois,  and  we  sailed  with  the  Indians  who  took 
us  during  some  nineteen  days,  sometimes  north,  sometimes 
northwest,  according  to  the  direction  which  the  river  took. 
By  the  estimate  which  we  formed,  during  that  time  (depuis 
cetemps  1&),  we  made  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  leagues, 
or  even  more  on  Colbert  river;  for  these  Indians  row  in 
great  force,  from  early  in  the  morning  till  evening,  scarcely 
stopping  to  eat  during  the  day.  To  oblige  us  to  keep  up  with 
them,  they  gave  us  every  day  four  or  five  men  to  increase  the 
crew  of  our  little  vessel,  which  was  much  heavier  than  theirs. 
Sometimes  we  cabined  when  it  rained,  and  when  the  weather 
was  not  bad,  we  slept  on  the  ground  without  any  shelter ;  this 
gave  us  all  time  to  cont3mplate  the  stars  and  the  moon  when 
it  shone.  Notwithstanding  the  fatigue  of  the  day,  the  young- 
est of  those  Indian  warriors  danced  the  calumet  to  four  or 
or  five  of  their  chiefs  till  midnight,  and  the  chief  to  whom 
they  went,  sent  a  warrior  of  his  family  in  due  ceremony  to 


DISOOVEBIES  m  THE  MISSISSIPPI  YALLEY. 


119 


those  who  sang,  to  let  them  in  turn  smoke  his  war-calumet, 
which  is  distinguished  from  the  peace-calumet  by  diiferent 
featliei's.  The  end  of  this  kind  of  pandemonium  was  termin- 
ated every  day  by  two  of  the  youngest  of  those  who  had  had 
relations  killed  in  war ;  they  took  several  arrows  which  they 
presented  by  the  points  all  crossed  to  the  chiefs,  weeping  bit- 
terly ;  they  gave  them  to  them  to  kiss.  Notwithstanding  the 
force  of  their  yelling,  the  fatigue  of  the  day,  the  watching  by 
night,  the  old  hien  almost  all  awoke  at  daybreak  for  fear  of 
being  surprised  by  their  enemies.  As  soon  as  dawn  appeared 
one  of  them  gave  the  cry,  and  lu  an  instant  all  the  warriors 
entered  their  bark  canoes,  some  passing  around  the  islands  in 
the  river  to  kill  some  beasts,  while  the  most  alert  went  by 
land,  to  discover  whether  any  enemy's  fire  was  to  be  seen. 
It  was  their  custom  always  to  take  post  on  the  point  of  some 
island  for  safety  sake,  as  their  enemies  have  only  periaguas, 
wooden  canoes,  which  can  not  go  as  fast  as  they  do,  on  ac- 
count of  their  weight.  Only  northern  tribes  have  birch  to 
make  bark  canoes ;  the  southern  tribes  who  have  not  that 
kind  of  tree,  are  deprived  of  this  great  convenience,  which 
wonderfully  facilitates  the  northern  Indians  in  going  from 
lake  to  lake,  and  by  all  rivers  to  attack  their  enemies,  and 
even  when  discovered,  they  are  safe  if  they  can  get  into  their 
canoes,  for  those  who  pursue  them  by  land,  or  in  periaguas, 
can  not  attack  or  pursue  them  quickly  enough. 

During  one  of  these  nineteen  days  of  painful  navigation, 
the  chief  of  the  party  by  name  Aquipaguetin,  resolved  to  halt 
about  noon  in  a  large  prairie ;  having  killed  a  very  fat  bear, 
he  gave  a  feast  to  the  chief  men,  and  after  the  repast  all  the 
warriora  began  to  dance.  Their  faces,  and  especially  their 
bodies,  were  marked  with  various  colors,  each  being  dis- 
tinguished by  the  figure  of  difi*er6nt  animals,  according  to  his 


K'tV 


mi 


>M 


■<-  <i 


m* 


120 


KABRATIVE  OF  FATHEB  nBNNEPIN. 


particular  taste  or  inclination ;  some  having  their  hair  short 
and  fnll  of  bear  oil,  with  white  and  red  feathers ;  othera  be- 
sprinkled their  heads  with  the  down  of  birds  which  adhered 
to  the  oil.  All  danced,  with  their  arms  akimbo,  and  struck 
the  ground  with  their  feet  so  stoutly  as  to  leave  the  imprint 
visible.  "While  a  son,  master  of  ceremonies,  gave  each  in 
turn  the  war-calumet  to  smoke,  he  wept  bitterly.  The  father 
in  a  doleful  voice,  broken  with  sighs  and  sobs,  with  his  whole 
body  bathed  in  tears,  sometimes  addressed  the  warriors, 
sometimes  came  to  me,  and  put  his  hands  on  my  head,  doing 
the  same  to  our  two  Frenchmen,  sometimes  ho  raised  his  eyes 
to  heaven  and  often  uttered  the  word  Louis,  which  means 
sun,  complaining  to  that  great  luminary  of  the  death  of  his 
son.  As  far  as  we  could  conjecture  this  ceremony  tended 
only  to  our  destruction ;  in  fact,  the  course  of  time  showed  us 
that  this  Indian  had  often  aimed  at  our  life ;  but  seeing  the 
opposition  made  by  the  other  chiefs  who  prevented  it,  ho 
made  us  embark  again,  and  employed  other  trickery  to  get 
by  degrees  the  goods  of  our  canoemen,  not  daring  to  take 
them  openly,  as  he  might  have  done,  for  fear  of  being  accused 
by  his  own  people  of  cowardice,  which  the  bravest  hold  in 
horror. 

This  wily  savage  had  the  bones  of  some  important  deceased 
relative,  which  he  preserved  with  great  care  in  some  skins 
dressed  and  adorned  with  several  rows  of  black  and  red  por- 
cupine quills ;  from  time  to  time  he  assembled  his  men  to 
give  it  a  smoke,  and  made  us  come  several  days  in  succes- 
sion to  cover  the  deceased's  bones  with  goods,  and  by  a  pres- 
ent wipe  away  the  tears  he  had  shed  for  him,  and  for  his  own 
son  killed  by  the  Miamis.  To  appease  this  captious  man,  we 
threw  on  the  bones  several  fathoms  of  French  tobacco,  axes, 
knives,  beads,  and  some  black  and  white  wampum  bracelets. 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  TALLET. 


121 


axes, 
eleta. 


In  this  way  the  Indian  stripped  us  under  pretexts,  which  we 
could  not  reproach  him  with,  as  he  declared  that  what  he 
asked  was  only  for  the  deceased,  and  to  give  the  warriors.  • 
In  fact,  he  distributed  among  them  all  that  we  gave  him. 
By  these  feints  he  made  us  believe  that  being  a  chief,  he  took 
nothing  for  himself,  but  what  we  gave  him  of  our  own  accord. 
We  slept  at  the  point  of  the  lake  of  Tears,  which  we  so 
called  from  the  tears  which  this  chief  shed  all  night  long,  or 
by  one  of  his  sons,  whom  he  caused  to  weep  when  tired  him- 
self, in  order  to  excite  his  warriors  to  compassion,  and  oblige 
them  to  kill  us  and  pursue  their  enemies  to  avenge  his  son's 
death 

These  Indians  at  times  sent  their  fleetest  bv  land  to  chase 
the  buffalo  on  the  water  side ;  as  these  animals  crossed  the 
river,  they  sometimes  killed  forty  or  fifty,  merely  to  take  the 
tongue,  and  most  delicate  morsels,  leaving  the  rest  with 
which  they  would  not  burthen  themselves,  so  as  to  go  on 
more  rapidly.  We  sometimes  indeed  eat  good  pieces,  but 
without  bread,  wine,  salt,  or  other  seasoning.  During  our 
three  years'  travels  we  had  lived  in  the  same  way,  sometimes 
in  plenty,  at  others  compelled  to  pass  twenty-four  hours,  and 
often  more,  without  eating;  because  in  these  little  bark  canoes 
you  can  not  take  much  of  a  load,  and  with  every  precaution 
you  are,  for  most  part  of  the  time,  deprived  of  all  necessaries 
of  life.  If  a  religious  in  Europe  underwent  many  hard- 
ships and  labora,  and  abstinences  like  those  we  were  often 
obliged  to  suffer  in  America,  no  other  proof  would  be  needed 
for  his  canonization.  It  is  true  that  we  do  not  always  merit 
in  such  cases  and  suffer  only  because  we  can  not  help  it. 

During  the  night  some  old  men  came  to  weep  piteously, 
often  rubbing  our  arms  and  whole  bodies  with  their  hands, 
which  they  then  put  on  our  head.    Besides  being  hindered 


m 


122 


NABRATIVB  OF  FATHER  HENNEPIN. 


from  Bleeping  by  these  tears,  I  often  did  not  know  what  to 
think,  nor  whether  these  Indians  wept  because  some  of  their 
warriors  would  have  killed  us,  or  out  of  pure  compassion  at 
the  ill  treatment  shown  us. 

On  another  occasion,  Aquipaguetin  relapsed  into  his  bad 
humor :  he  had  so  gained  most  of  the  warriors,  that  one  day 
when  we  were  unable  to  encamp  near  our  protector  Narhe- 
toba,  we  were  obliged  to  go  to  the  very  end  of  the  camp,  the 
Indians  declaring  that  this  chief  insisted  positively  on  killing 
us.  We  accordingly  drew  from  a  box  twenty  knives  and 
some  tobacco,  which  we  angrily  flung  down  amid  the  mal- 
contents ;  the  wretch  regarding  all  his  soldiers  one  after  an- 
other hesitated,  asking  their  advice,  either  to  refuse  or  take 
our  present ;  and  as  we  bowed  our  head  and  presented  him 
with  an  axe  to  kill  us,  the  young  chief  who  was  really  or  pre- 
tendedly  our  protector  took  us  by  the  arm,  and  all  in  fury  led 
us  to  his  cabin.  One  of  his  brothers  taking  some  arrows, 
broke  them  all  in  our  presence,  showing  us  by  this  action, 
that  he  prevented  their  killing  us. 

The  next  day  they  left  us  alone  in  our  canoe,  without  put- 
ting in  any  Indians  to  help  us,  as  they  usually  did ;  all  re- 
mained behind  us.  After  four  or  five  leagues  sail  another 
chief  came  to  us,  made  us  disembark,  and  pulling  up  three 
little  piles  of  grass,  made  us  sit  down ;  he  then  took  a  piece 
of  cedar  full  of  little  round  holes  in  one  of  which  he  put  a 
stick,  which  he  spun  round  between  his  two  palms,  and  in 
this  way  made  fire  to  light  the  tobacco  in  his  great  calumet. 
After  weeping  some  time,  and  putting  his  hands  on  my  head, 
he  gave  me  his  peace-calumet  to  smoke,  and  showed  us  that 
we  should  be  in  his  country  in  six  days. 

Having  arrived  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  our  navigation 
five  leagues  below  St.  Anthony's  falls,  these  Indians  landed 


DISGOYEBIES  m  THE  MISSI8BIPFI  TALLET. 


128 


118  in  a  bay  and  assembled  to  deliberate  about  ns.  They  dis- 
tributed us  separately,  and  gave  us  to  three  heads  of  families 
in  place  of  three  of  their  children  who  had  been  killed  in  war. 
They  first  seized  all  our  property,  and  broke  our  canoe  to 
pieces,  for  fear  we  should  return  to  their  enemies.  Their  own 
they  hid  in  some  alders  to  use  when  going  to  hunt;  and 
though  we  might  easily  have  reached  their  country  by  water, 
they  compelled  us  to  go  sixty  leagues  by  land,  forcing  us  to 
march  from  daybreak  to  two  hours  after  nightfall,  and  to 
swim  over  many  rivers,  while  these  Indians,  who  are  often  of 
extraordinary  height,  carried  our  habit  on  their  head ;  and 
our  two  boatmen,  who  were  smaller  than  myself,  on  their 
shoulders,  because  they  could  not  swim  as  I  could.  On 
leaving  the  water,  which  was  often  full  of  sharp  ice,  I  could 
scarcely  stand ;  our  legs  were  all  bloody  from  the  ice  which 
we  broke  as  we  advanced  in  lakes  which  we  forded,  and  as 
we  eat  only  once  in  twenty-four  hours,  some  pieces  of  meat 
which  these  barbarians  grudgingly  gave  us,  I  was  so  weak 
that  I  often  lay  down  on  the  way,  resolved  to  die  there,  rather 
than  follow  these  Indians  who  marched  on  and  continued 
their  route  with  a  celerity  which  surpasses  the  power  of  the 
Europeans.  To  oblige  us  to  hasten  on,  they  often  set  fire  to 
the  grass  of  the  prairies  where  we  were  passing,  so  that  we 
had  to  advance  or  burn.  I  had  then  a  hat  which  I  reserved 
to  shield  me  from  the  burning  rays  of  the  sun  in  summer,  but 
I  often  dropped  it  in  the  flames  which  we  were  obliged  to 
cross.  X 

As  we  approached  their  village,  they  divided  among  them 
all  the  merchandise  of  our  two  canoemen,  and  were  near  kill- 
ing each  other  for  our  roll  of  French  tobacco,  which  is  very 
precious  to  these  tribes,  and  more  esteemed  than  gold  among 
Europeans.    The  more  humane  showed  by  signs  that  they 


I 


mm 


f\ 


124 


KABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  HENNEPIN. 


would  give  many  beaver-skina  for  what  they  took.  The  rea- 
son of  the  violence  was,  that  this  party  was  made  up  from 
two  different  tribes,  the  more  distant  of  whom,  fearing  lest 
the  others  should  retain  all  the  goods  in  the  first  villages 
which  they  would  have  to  pass,  wished  to  take  their  share  in 
advance.  In  fact,  some  time  after  they  offered  peltries  in 
part  payment ;  but  our  boatmen  would  not  receive  them,  until 
they  gave  the  full  value  of  all  that  had  been  taken.  And 
in  course  of  time  I  have  no  doubt  they  will  give  entire  satis- 
faction to  the  French,  whom  they  will  endeavor  to  draw 
among  them  to  carry  on  trade. 

These  savages  also  took  our  brocade  chasuble,  and  all  the 
articles  of  our  portable  chapel,  except  the  chalice,  which  they 
durst  not  touch ;  for  seeing  that  glittering  silver  gilt,  they  closed 
their  eyes,  saying  that  it  was  a  spirit  which  would  kill  them. 
They  also  broke  a  little  box  with  lock  and  key,  after  telling 
me,  that  if  I  did  not  break  the  lock,  they  would  do  so  them- 
selves with  sharp  stones ;  the  reason  of  this  violence  was  that 
from  time  to  time  on  the  route,  they  could  not  open  the  box 
to  examine  what  was  inside,  having  no  idea  of  locks  and 
keys ;  besides,  they  did  not  care  to  carry  the  box,  but  only 
the  goods  which  were  inside,  and  which  they  thought  consid- 
erable, but  they  found  only  books  and  papers. 

Aft:er  five  days'  march  by  land,  suffering  hunger,  thirst,  and 
outrages,  marching  all  day  long  without  rest,  fording  lakes 
and  rivers,  wo  descried  a  number  of  women  and  children 
coming  to  meet  our  little  army.  All  the  eldero  of  this  nation 
assembled  on  our  account,  and  as  we  saw  cabins,  and  bundles 
of  straw  hanging  from  the  posts  of  them,  to  which  these 
savages  bind  those  whom  they  take  as  slaves,  and  burn  them ; 
and  seeing  that  they  made  the  Picard  du  Gay  sing,  as  he 
held  and  shook  a  gourd  full  of  little  round  pebbles,  while  his 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


125 


hair  and  face  were  filled  with  paint  of  different  colors,  and  a 
tuft  of  white  feathera  attached  to  his  head  by  the  Indians,  we 
not  unreasonably  thought  that  they  wished  to  kill  us,  as  they 
performed  many  ceremonies,  usually  practised,  when  they 
intend  to  bum  their  enemies.  The  worst  of  it  was,  too,  that 
not  one  of  us  three  could  make  himself  understood  by  these 
Indians;  nevertheless,  after  many  vows,  which  every  Chris- 
tian would  make  in  such  straits,  one  of  the  principal  Issati 
chiefs  gave  us  his  peace-calumet  to  smoke,  and  accepted  the 
one  we  had  brought.  He  then  gave  us  some  wild  rice 
to  eat,  presenting  it  to  us  in  large  bark  dishes,  which  the  In- 
dian women  had  seasoned  with  whortleberries,  which  are 
black  grains  which  they  dry  in  the  sun  in  summer,  and  are 
as  good  as  currants.  After  this  feast,  the  best  we  had  had  for 
seven  or  eight  days,  the  heads  of  families  who  had  adopted 
us,  instead  of  their  sons  killed  in  war,  conducted  us  separately 
each  to  his  village,  marching  through  marshes  knee  deep  in 
water,  for  a  league,  after  which  the  five  wives  of  the  one  who 
called  me  Mitchinchi,  that  is  to  say,  his  son,  received  us  in 
three  bark  canoes,  and  took  us  a  short  league  from  our  start- 
ing place  to  an  island  where  their  cabins  were. 

On  our  arrival,  which  was  about  Easter,  April  21st,  1680,* 
one  of  these  Indians  who  seemed  to  me  decrepit,  gave  me  a 
large  calumet  to  smoke,  and  weeping  bitterly,  rubbed  ray 
head  and  arms,  showing  his  compassion  at  seeing  me  so  fa- 
tigued that  two  men  M'ere  often  obliged  to  give  me  their 
hands  to  help  me  to  stand  up.  There  was  a  bearskin  near 
the  fire,  on  which  he  rubbed  my  legs  and  the  soles  of  my  feet 
with  wild-cat  oil. 

*  This  is  somewhat  vogue;  Easter  Sunday,  in  1680,  fell  on  the  2l8t  of  April; 
he  ■was  taken  on  the  11th  of  April,  travelled  nineteen  days  in  canoe,  and  five  by 
land,  which  brings  him  to  the  6th  of  May.  He  perceived  this  afterward,  and  in 
the  English  edition,  he  says,  that  he  arrived  some  time  in  May;  but  he  there 
falls  into  a  worse  error  by  puttiug  Easter  back  to  the  23d  of  March. 


■itt. 


'1 


>v 


"* 


m 


126 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER   IIENNRPIK. 


Aqulpaguctin's  son,  who  called  me  his  brotlier,  pnraded 
nbout  with  our  brocade  chasuble  on  his  bare  back,  having 
rolled  np  in  it  some  dead  man^s  bones,  for  whom  these  people 
liad  a  great  veneration.  The  priest's  girdle  made  of  red  and 
white  wool,  with  two  tassels  at  the  end,  served  him  for  sus- 
pendei's,  carrying  thus  in  triumph  what  he  called  Pere  Louis 
Chinnien,  which  means  "the  robe  of  him  who  is  called  the 
sun."  After  these  Indians  had  used  this  chasuble  to  cover 
the  bones  of  their  dead,  they  presented  it  to  some  of  their 
allies,  tribes  situated  about  five  hundred  leagues  west  of  their 
country,  who  had  sent  them  an  embassy  and  danced  the 
calumet. 

The  day  after  our  arrival,  Aquipaguetin,  who  was  the  head 
of  a  largo  family,  covered  me  with  a  robe  made  of  ten  large 
dressed  beaver-skins,  trimmed  with  porcupine  quills.  This  In- 
dian showed  me  five  or  six  of  his  wives,  telling  them,  as  I 
afterward  learned,  that  they  should  in  future  regard  me  as 
one  of  tiieir  children.  He  set  before  me  a  bark  dish  full  of 
fish,  and  ordered  all  those  assembled,  that  each  should  call 
me  by  the  name  I  was  to  have  in  the  rank  of  our  near  rela- 
tionship; and  seeing  that  I  could  not  rise  from  the  ground 
but  by  the  help  of  two  othera,  he  had  a  sweating  cabin  made, 
in  which  he  made  me  enter  naked  with  four  Indians.  This 
cabin  he  covered  with  buffalo-skins,  and  inside  he  put  stones 
red  to  the  middle.  He  made  me  a  sign  to  do  as  the 
others  before  beginning  to  sweat,  but  I  merely  concealed  my 
nakedness  with  a  handkerchief.  As  soon  as  these  Indians 
had  several  times  breathed  out  quite  violently,  he  began  to 
sing  in  a  thundering  voice,  the  othore  seconded  him,  all  put- 
ting their  hands  on  me,  and  rubbing  me,  while  they  wept 
bitterly.  I  began  to  faint,  but  I  came  out,  and  could  scarcely 
take  my  habit  to  put  on.  When  he  had  made  me  sweat  thus 
three  times  a  week,  I  felt  as  strong  as  ever. 


DIBGOVERTES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALI.ET. 


127 


I  often  spent  sad  honrs  among  tlicse  savages ;  for,  oesides 
their  only  giving  me  a  little  wild  rice  and  smoked  fish  rocs 
five  or  six  times  a  week,  which  they  boiled  in  earthen  pots, 
Aquipaguetin  took  me  to  a  neighboring  island  with  his  wives 
and  children  to  till  the  ground,  in  order  to  sow  some  tobacco 
seed,  and  seeds  of  vegetables  that  I  had  brought,  and  which 
this  Irdian  prized  extremely.  Sometimes  he  assembled  the 
eldera  of  the  village,  in  whose  presence  he  asked  me  for  a 
compass  that  I  always  had  in  my  sleeve ;  seeing  that  I  made 
the  needle  turn  with  a  key,  and  believing  justly  that  we 
Europeans  went  all  over  the  habitable  globe,  guided  by  this 
instrument,  this  chief,  who  was  very  eloquent,  persuaded  his 
people  that  we  were  spirits,  and  capable  of  doing  anything 
beyond  their  reach.  At  the  close  of  his  address,  which  was 
very  animated,  all  the  old  men  wept  over  my  head,  admiring 
in  me  what  they  could  not  underatand.  I  had  an  iron  pot 
with  three  lion-paw  feet,  which  these  Indians  never  dared 
touQh,  unless  their  hand  was  wrapped  up  in  some  robe.  The 
women  hung  it  to  the  branch  of  a  tree,  not  daring  to  enter  the 
cabin  where  it  was.  I  was  some  time  unable  to  make  myself 
understood  by  these  people,  but  feeling  myself  gnawed  by 
hunger,  I  began  to  compile  a  dictionary  of  their  language  by 
means  of  their  children,  with  whom  I  made  myself  familiar, 
in  order  to  learn. 

As  soon  as  I  could  catch  the  word  Taketchiabihen,  which 
means  in  their  language,  "  How  do  you  call  that,"  I  became, 
in  a  little  while,  able  to  converse  with  them  on  familiar  things. 
At  first,  indeed,  to  ask  the  word  run  in  their  language,  I  had 
to  quicken  my  steps  from  one  end  of  their  large  cabin  to  the 
other.  The  chiefs  of  these  savages  seeing  my  desire  to  learn, 
often  made  me  write,  naming  all  the  parts  of  the  human  body, 
and  as  I  would  not  put  on  paper  certain  indelicate  words,  at 


'M* 


198 


KARRATIVK   OP  FATHER   IIKNNKPIN. 


vrliich  they  do  not  blush,  it  Afforded  them  nn  agrcoablo 
amusement.  They  often  put  mo  qneations,  but  as  I  had  to 
look  at  my  paper,  to  answer  them,  thoy  said  to  one  another : 
"  When  we  ask  Pere  Louis  [for  so  they  had  heard  our  two 
Frenchmen  call  me],  he  does  not  answer  us ;  but  as  soon  as 
he  has  looked  at  what  is  white  [for  they  have  no  word  to  say 
paper],  he  answers  us,  and  tells  us  his  thoughts ;  that  white 
thing,"  said  they,  "  must  be  a  spirit  which  tells  Pere  Louis 
all  we  say."  They  concluded  that  our  two  Frenchmen  were 
not  as  great  as  I,  because  they  could  not  work  like  me  on 
what  was  white.  In  consequence  the  Lidians  believed  that 
I  could  do  everything;  when  the  rain  fell  in  such  quantities 
as  to  incommode  them,  or  prevent  their  going  to  hunt,  they 
told  me  to  stop  it ;  but  I  knew  enough  to  answer  them  by 
pointing  to  the  clouds,  that  he  was  great  chief  of  heaven,  was 
master  of  everything,  and  that  they  bid  me  to  do,  did  not 
depend  on  me. 

These  Indians  often  asked  me  how  many  wives  and  chil- 
dren I  had,  and  how  old  I  was,  that  is,  how  many  winters, 
for  so  these  nations  alway  count.  These  men  never  illumined 
by  the  light  of  a  faith  were  surprised  at  the  answer  I  made 
them  ;  for  pointing  to  our  two  Frenchmen  whom  I  had  then 
gone  to  visit  three  leagues  from  our  village,  I  told  them  that 
a  man  among  us  could  have  only  one  wife  till  death ;  that  as 
for  me,  I  had  promised  the  Master  of  life  to  live  as  they  saw 
me,  and  to  come  and  live  with  them  to  teach  them  that  he 
would  have  them  bo  like  the  French ;  that  this  great  Master 
of  life  had  sent  down  fire  from  heaven,  and  destroyed  a  na- 
tion given  to  enormous  crimes,  like  those  committed  among 
them.  But  that  gross  people  till  then,  lawless  and  faithless, 
turned  all  I  said  into  ridicule.  "  How,"  said  they, "  would  you 
have  those  two  men  with  thee  have  wives  ?    Ours  would  not 


.i*  t. 


DlSCOVi  T'TF.S   IN  tiiP.   MISSISSIPPI  VALLKY. 


120 


live  with  tlioin,  for  the^-  have  luiir  all  over  tlin  face,  and  wo 
liave  none  there  or  elsewhere."  In  fact,  they  were  never  bet- 
ter pleased  with  me,  than  when  I  was  bliaved ;  tind  from  a 
complaisance  certainly  not  criminal,  I  sluived  every  week. 
All  our  kindred  seeing  that  I  wished  to  leave  them,  made  a 
packet  of  beaver-skins  worth  six  hundred  livres  among  the 
French.  These  peltries  they  gave  me  to  induce  me  to  re- 
main among  them,  to  introduce  mo  to  strange  nations  that 
were  coming  to  visit  them,  and  in  restitution  of  what  they  had 
robbed  me  of;  but  I  refused  these  presents,  telling  them  that 
I  had  not  come  among  them  to  gather  beaver-skins,  but  only 
to  tell  them  the  will  of  the  great  Master  of  life,  and  to  live 
wretchedly  with  them,  after  having  left  a  most  abundant  coun- 
try. "  It  is  true,"  said  they,  "  that  we  have  no  chase  in  this 
part,  and  that  thou  sufferest,  but  wait  till  summer,  then  we 
will  go  and  kill  buffalo  in  the  warm  country."  I  should  have 
been  satisfied  had  they  fed  mo  as  they  did  their  children, 
but  they  eat  secretly  at  night  unknown  to  me.  Although 
women  are,  for  the  most  part,  more  kind  and  compassionate 
than  men,  they  gave  what  little  fish  they  had  to  their  chil- 
dren, regarding  me  as  a  slave  made  by  their  warriors  in  their 
enemies'  country,  and  they  reasonably  preferred  their  chil- 
dren's lives  to  mine. 

There  were  some  old  men  who  often  came  to  weep  over 
my  head  in  a  sighing  voice,  saying,  "  Son,"  or  "  Nephew,  I 
feel  sorry  to  see  thee  without  eating,  and  to  learn  how  badly 
our  warriors  treated  thee  on  the  way ;  they  are  young  braves, 
without  sense,  who  would  have  killed  thee,  and  have  robbed 
thee  of  all  thou  hast.  Iladst  thou  wanted  buffalo  or  beaver- 
robes,  we  would  wipe  away  thy  tears,  but  thou  wilt  have 
nothing  of  what  we  offer  thee." 

Ouasicoud^,  that  is,  the  Fierced-pine,  the  greatest  of  all  the 


m 


S««ii 


'^ 


¥^ 


'fi,'0*r  4 


•'^'•S\H 


180 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  HENNEPIN. 


Issati  chiefs,  being  very  indignant  at  those  who  had  so  mal- 
treated U8,  said,  in  open  conncil,  that  those  who  had  robbed 
us  of  all  we  had,  were  like  hungry  curs  that  stealthily  snatfh 
a  bit  of  meat  from  the  bark  dish,  and  then  fly;  so  those  who 
had  acted  so  toward  us,  deserved  to  be  regarded  as  dogs, 
since  they  insulted  men  who  brought  them  iron  and  mer- 
chandise, which  they  had  never  had ;  that  he  would  find 
means  to  punish  the  one  who  had  so  outraged  us.  This  is 
what  the  brave  chief  showed  to  all  his  nation,  as  we  shall  see 
hereafter. 

As  I  often  went  to  visit  the  cabins  of  these  last  nations,  I 
found  a  sick  child,  whose  father's  name  was  Mamenisi ;  having 
a  moral  certainty  of  its  death,  I  begged  our  two  Frenchmen 
to  give  me  their  advice,  telling  them  I  believed  myself 
obliged  to  baptize  it.  Miciiael  Ako  would  not  accompany 
me,  the  Picard  du  Gay  alone  followed  me  to  act  as  sponsor, 
or  rather  as  witness  of  the  baptism.*  I  christened  the  child 
Antoinette  in  honor  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua,  as  well  as  from 
the  Picard's  name  which  was  Anthony  Auguelle.  He  was  a 
native  of  Amiens,  and  a  nephew  of  Mr.  de  Cauroy,  procura- 
tor-general of  the  Premonstratensians,  both  now  at  Paris. 
Having  poured  natural  water  on  the  head  of  this  Indian 
child,  and  uttered  these  words:  "Creature  of  God,  I  baptize 
thee  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  I  took  half  an  altar  cloth  which  I  had  wrested 
from  the  hands  of  an  Indian  who  had  stolen  it  from  me,  and 
put  it  on  the  body  of  the  baptized  child  ;  for  as  I  could  not 
say  mass  for  wan*;  of  wine  and  vestments,  this  piece  of  linen 
could  not  be  put  to  a  better  use,  than  to  enshroud  the  fii^st 
Christian  child  among  these  tribes.  I  do  not  know  whether  the 


*  Tills  a  curious  affair,  a  misBionary  consulting  two  canoemen  as  to  the  expe- 
diency of  conferring  a  sacrament 


DISC0VEKIE8  IN  THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLET. 


131 


as  to  the  cxpc- 


softness  of  the  linen  had  refreslied  her,  bnt  she  was  the  next 
day  smiling  in  her  mother's  arms,  who  believed  that  I  had 
cured  her  child,  but  she  died  soon  after  to  my  great  consola- 
tion. 

During  our  stay  among  the  Issati  or  !N^adouessiou,  we  saw 
Indians  who  came  as  embassadors  from  about  five  hundred 
leagues  to  the  west.  They  informed  us  that  the  Assenipoua- 
lacs*  were  then  only  seven  or  eight  days  distant  to  the  north- 
east of  us ;  all  the  other  known  tribes  on  the  west  and  north 
west  inhabit  immense  plains  and  prairies  abounding  in  buffalo 
and  peltries,  where  they  are  sometimes  obliged  to  make  fires 
with  bufiiilo  dung  for  want  of  wood. 

Three  months  after,  all  these  nations  assembled,  and  the 
chiefs  having  regulated  the  places  for  hunting  the  bufiiilo, 
they  dispersed  in  several  bands  so  as  not  to  starve  each  other. 
Aquipaguetin,  one  of  the  chiefs  who  had  adopted  me  as  his 
son,  wished  to  take  me  to  the  west  with  about  two  hundred 
families ;  I  made  answer  that  I  awaited  spirits  (so  they  called 
Frenchmen),  at  the  river  Oiiisconsin,  which  empties  into  the 
river  Colbert,  who  were  to  join  me  to  bring  merchandise,  and 
that  if  he  went  that  way,  I  would  continue  with  him ;  he 
would  have  gone  but  for  those  of  his  nation.  In  the  beginning 
of  July,  1680,  we  descended  in  canoe  southward  with  the 
great  chief  named  Ouasicoude,  that  is  to  say,  the  Pierced-pino, 
with  about  eighty  cabins,  composed  of  more  than  a  hundred 
and  thirty  families,  and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  warriors. 
Scarcely  would  the  Indians  give  me  a  place  in  their  little 
fleet,  for  they  had  only  old  canoes.  They  went  four  leagues 
lower  down  to  get  birch  bark  to  make  some  more.  Having 
made  a  hole  in  the  ground  to  hide  our  silver  chalice  and  our 

*  This  name,  Assenipoimlok,  has  now  been  softened  to  Assiniboin;  it  is  the 
Algonquin  epithet  for  a  large  branch  of  the  Dahcotah  family,  long  hostile  to 
the  Sioux,  written  also  simply  Poualok. 


Mtt[ 


*•,  b 


^J^r.«r:M 


m 


132 


NARBATIVE   OF  FATHER  I1ENNE1•1^. 


papers  till  we  returned  from  the  hunt,  and  keeping  only  our 
breviary,  so  as  not  to  be  loaded,  I  stood  on  the  bank  of  a  lake 
formed  by  the  river  we  had  called  St.  Francis,  and  stretched 
out  my  hand  to  the  canoes  as  they  rapidly  passed  in  succes- 
sion ;  our  Frenchmen  also  had  one  for  themselves,  which  the 
Indians  had  given  them ;  they  would  not  take  me  in,  Michael 
Ako  saying  that  he  had  taken  me  long  enough  to  satisfy  him. 
I  was  hurt  at  this  answer,  seeing  myself  thus  abandoned  by 
Christians,  to  whom  I  had  always  done  good,  as  they  both 
often  acknowledged ;  but  God  having  never  abandoned  me 
in  that  painful  voyage,  inspired  two  Indians  to  take  me  in 
their  little  can'^e,  where  I  had  no  other  employment  than  to 
bale  out  with  a  little  bark  tray  the  water  which  entered  by  little 
holes.    This  I  did  not  do  without  getting  all  wet.    This  boat 
might,  indeed,  be  called  a  death-box,  from  its  lightness  and 
fragility.    These  canoes  do  not  generally  weigh  over  fifty 
pounds ;  the  least  motion  of  the  body  upsets  them,  unless  you 
are  long  habituated  to  that  kind  of  navigation.    On  disem- 
barking in  the  evening,  the  Picard,  as  an  excuse,  told  me 
that  their  canoe  was  half  rotten,  and  that,  had  we  been  three 
in  it,  we  should  have  run  a  great  risk  of  remaining  on  the 
way.    In  spite  of  this  excuse  I  told  him,  that  being  Chris- 
tia;ns,  they  should  not  act  so,  especially  among  Indians,  more 
than  eight  hundred  leagues  from  the  French  settlements; 
that  if  they  were  well  received  in  this  country,  it  was  only 
in  consequence  of  my  bleeding  some  asthmatic  Indians,  and 
my  giving  them  some  orvietan  and  other  remedies  which  I 
kept  in  my  sleeve,  and  by  which  I  had  saved  the  lives  of 
some  Indians  bit  by  rattlesnakes,  and  because  I  had  neatly 
made  their  tonsure,  which  Indian  children  wear  to  the  age 
of  eighteen  or  twenty,  but  have  no  way  of  making  except  by 
burning  the  hair  with  red-hot  flat  stones.    I  reminded  them 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


133 


that  by  my  ingenuity  I  had  gained  the  friendship  of  these 
people,  who  would  have  killed  us  or  made  us  suffer  more, 
had  they  not  discovered  about  me  those  remedies  which  they 
prize,  when  they  restore  the  sick  to  health.  However,  the 
Picard  only,  as  he  retired  to  his  host's,  apologised  to  me. 

Four  days  after  our  departure  for  the  buffalo  hunt,  we 
halted  eight  leagues  above  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's  falls  oa 
an  eminence  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  Francis; 
here  the  Indian  women  made  their  canoe  frames  while  wait- 
ing for  those  who  were  to  bring  bark  to  make  canoes.  The 
young  men  went  to  hunt  stag,  deer,  and  beaver,  but  killed  so 
few  animals  for  such  a  large  party,  that  we  could  very  rarely 
get  a  bit  of  meat,  having  to  put  up  w^ith  a  broth  once  in  every 
twenty-four  houre.  The  Picard  and  myself  went  to  look  for 
haws,  gooseberries,  and  little  wild  fruit,  which  often  did  us 
more  harm  than  good ;  this  obliged  us  to  go  alone,  as  Michael 
Ako  refused,  in  a  wretched  canoe  to  Ouisconsin  river,  which 
was  more  than  a  hundred  leagues  off,  to  see  whether  the  sieur 
de  la  Salle  had  sent  to  that  place  a  reinforcement  of  men, 
with  powder,  lead,  and  other  munitions,  as  he  had  promised 
us  on  Oiir  departure  from  the  Islinois.* 

The  Indians  would  not  have  suffered  this  voyage,  had  not 
one  of  the  three  remained  with  them ;  they  wished  me  to 
stay,  but  Michael  Ako  absolutely  refused.  Our  whole  stock 
was  fifteen  charges  of  powder,  a  gun,  a  wretched  earthem 
pot  which  the  Indians  had  given  us,  a  knife,  and  a  beaver- 
robe,  to  make  a  journey  of  two  hundred  leagues,  thus  aban- 
doning oureelves  to  Providence.  As  we  were  making  the 
portage  of  our  canoe  at  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's  falls,  we  per- 
ceived five  or  six  of  our  Indians  who  had  taken  the  start ; 


r\ 


m^ 


I  ilSlS 


.('•''Nil  I|H'( 


iniw| 


%;''^ift!il 


*  This  is  the  first  we  hear  of  this  promise,  or  of  La  Salle's  having  sent  him  to 
the  Wisconsin,  or  given  him  a  rendezvous  there. 


134 


KABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  HENNEPIN. 


one  of  them  was  up  in  an  oak  opposite  the  great  fall  weeping 
bitterly,  with  a  well-dressed  beaver  robe,  whitened  inside  and 
trimmed  with  porcupine  quills  which  he  was  offering  as  a 
sacrifice  to  the  falls,  which  is  in  itself  admirable  and  fright- 
ful. I  heard  him  while  shedding  copious  tears  say  as  ho 
spoke  to  the  great  cataract :  "  Thou  who  art  a  spirit,  grant 
that  our  nation  may  pass  her  quietly  without  accident,  may 
kill  buffalo  in  abundance,  conquer  our  enemies,  and  bring  iu 
slaves,  some  of  whom  we  will  put  to  death  before  thee ;  the 
Messenecqz  (so  they  call  the  tribe  named  by  the  French 
Outouagamis),  have  killed  our  kindred,  grant  that  we  may 
avenge  them."  In  fact,  after  the  heat  of  the  buffalo-hunt, 
they  invaded  their  enemies,  killed  some,  and  brought  others 
as  slaves.  If  they  succeed  a  single  time,  even  after  repeated 
failures,  they  adhere  to  their  superstition.  This  robe  offered 
in  sacrifice  served  one  of  our  Frenchmen,  who  took  it  as  we 
returned. 

A  league  below  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's  falls,  the  Picard 
was  obliged  to  land  and  get  his  powder-horn  which  he  had 
left  at  the  falls.  On  his  return,  I  showed  him  a  snake  about 
six  feet  long  crawling  up  a  straight  and  precipitous  mountain 
and  which  gradually  gained  on  some  swallows'  nests  to  eat 
the  young  ones ;  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  we  saw  the 
feathers  of  those  he  had  apparently  eaten,  and  we  pelted  him 
down  with  stones. 

As  we  descended  the  river  Colbert,  we  found  some  of  our 
Indians  cabined  in  the  islands,  loaded  with  buffalo-meat, 
some  of  which  they  gave  us.  Two  hours  after  lauding, 
fifteen  or  sixteen  warriors  of  the  party  whom  we  had  left 
above  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's  falls,  entered  tomahawk  in 
hand,  upset  the  cabins  of  those  v^ho  had  invited  us,  took  all 
the  meat  and  bear-oil  that  they  found,  and  greased  them- 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


135 


selves  from  bead  to  foot ;  we  at  first  took  thera  to  be  enemies, 
but  one  of  tbose  who  called  himself  my  uncle,  told  me,  tliat 
having  gone  to  the  buifalo-hunt  before  the  rest,  contrary  to 
the  maxims  of  the  country,  they  bad  a  right  to  strip  them, 
because  they  put  the  buffaloes  to  flight  before  the  arrival  of 
the  mass  of  the  nation. 

During  sixty  leagues  tbat  we  sailed  down  the  river,  we 
killed  only  one  deer,  swimming  across,  but  the  heat  was  so 
great  that  the  meat  spoiled  in  twenty-four  hours.  This  made 
us  look  for  turtles,  which  we  found  hard  to  take,  as  their  hear- 
ing is  acute,  and  the  moment  they  hear  the  least  noise,  they 
jump  quickly  into  the  water.  We,  hov;ever,  took  one  much 
larger  than  the  rest,  with  a  thinner  shell  and  fatter  meat. 
While  I  tried  to  cut  off  his  head,  he  all  but  cut  off  one  of  my 
fingers.  We  had  drawn  one  end  of  our  canoe  ashore,  when 
a  gust  of  wind  drove  it  into  the  middle  of  the  great  river ; 
tbe  Picard  had  gone  with  the  gun  into  the  prairie  to  t  y  and 
kill  a  buffalo ;  so  I  quickly  pulled  off  our  habit,  and  irew  it 
on  the  turtle  with  some  stones  to  prevent  its  escaping,  and 
swam  after  our  canoe  which  went  very  fast  down  stream,  as 
the  current  there  was  very  strong.  Having  reached  it  with 
much  difficulty,  I  duret  not  get  in  for  fear  of  upsetting  it,  so 
I  either  pushed  it  before  me,  or  drew  it  after  me,  and  so  little 
by  little  reached  the  shore  about  one  eighth  of  a  league  from 
the  place  where  I  had  the  turtle.  The  Picard  finding  only 
our  habit,  and  not  seeing  tbe  canoe,  naturally  believed  that 
some  Indian  had  killed  me.  Ho  retired  to  the  prairie  to  look 
all  around  whether  there  were  no  people  there.  Meanwhile 
I  remounted  the  river  with  all  diligence  in  the  canoe,  and 
had  just  put  on  my  habit,  when  I  saw  more  than  sixty  buf- 
falo crossing  the  river  to  reach  the  south  side ;  I  pursued  tl»e 
animals,  calling  the  Picard  with  all  my  might ;  he  ran  up  at 


K 


MM 


130 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER  HENNEPIN. 


the  noise  and  bad  time  to  enter  the  canoe,  while  the  dog 
■which  liad  jumped  into  the  water  had  driven  them  into  an 
island.  Having  given  them  chase  here,  they  were  crossing 
back  when  he  shot  one,  which  was  so  heavy  that  we  could 
get  it  ashore  only  in  pieces,  being  obliged  to  cut  the  best 
morsels,  while  the  rest  was  in  the  water.  As  it  was  almost 
two  days  since  we  had  eaten,  we  made  a  fire  with  the  drift- 
wood we  found  on  the  sand ;  and  while  the  Picard  was 
skinning  the  animal,  I  cooked  the  morsels  of  the  fat  meat  in 
our  little  earthern  pot ;  we  then  eat  it  so  eagerly  that  we  both 
fell  sick,  and  had  to  stay  two  days  in  the  island  to  recover. 
"We  could  not  take  much  of  the  meat,  our  canoe  was  so  small, 
and  besides  the  excessive  heat  spoiled  it,  so  that  we  were  all 
at  once  deprived  of  it,  as  it  was  full  of  worms ;  and  when  we 
embarked  in  the  morning,  we  did  not  know  what  we  would 
eat  during  the  day.  Never  have  we  more  admired  God's 
providence  than  during  this  voyage,  for  we  did  not  always 
■find  deer,  and  could  njt  kill  them  when  we  would  ;  but  the 
eagles,  which  are  very  common  in  these  vast  countries,  some- 
times dropped  from  their  claws  bream,  or  large  carp,  which 
they  were  carrying  to  their  nests.  Another  time  we  found 
an  otter  on  the  bank  of  the  river  Colbert  eating  a  large  fish, 
which  had,  running  from  the  head,  a  kind  of  paddle  or  beak, 
five  fingers  broad  and  a  foot  and  a  half  long,  which  made  our 
Picard  say,  that  he  thought  he  saw  a  df^vll  in  the  paws  of 
that  otter :  but  his  fright  did  not  preveiii;  our  eating  the  mon- 
strous fish  which  we  found  very  good. 

"While  seeking  the  Ouisconsin  river,  Aquipaguetin,  that 
savage  father,  whom  I  had  left,  and  whom  I  believed  more 
than  two  hundred  leagues  oif,  suddenly  appeared  with  ten 
warriors,  on  the  11th  of  July,  1680.  "We  believed  that  he 
was  coming  to  kill  us,  because  we  had  left  him,  with  the 


DIS0OVKBIE8    IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLET. 


187 


knowledge,  indeed,  of  the  other  Indians,  but  against  his  will. 
He  first  gave  us  some  wild-rice,  and  a  slice  of  buifalo-meat 
to  eat,  and  asked  whether  we  had  found  the  Frenchmen  who 
were  to  bring  us  gouds;  but  not  being  patisfied  with  what  we 
said,  he  started  before  us,  and  went  to  Ouisconsin  to  try  and 
carry  off  what  he  could  from  the  French ;  this  savage  found 
none  there,  and  rejoined  us  three  days  after.  The  Picard 
had  gone  in  the  prairie  to  hunt,  and  I  was  alone  in  a  little 
cabin  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  which  I  had  made  to  screen 
us  from  the  sun,  with  a  blanket  that  an  Indian  had  given  me 
back.  Aquipaguetin  seeing  me  alone  came  up,  tomahawk  in 
hand :  I  laid  hold  of  two  pocket-pistols,  which  the  Picard 
had  got  back  from  the  Indians,  and  a  knife,  not  intending  to 
kill  my  pretended  Indian  father,  but  only  to  frighten  him, 
and  prevent  his  crushing  me,  in  case  he  had  that  intention. 
Aquipaguetin  reprimanded  me  for  exposing  myself  thus  to  the 
insults  of  their  enemies,  saying  that  I  should  at  least  take  the 
other  shore  to  be  more  in  safety.  He  wished  to  take  me 
with  him,  telling  me  that  he  was  with  three  hundred  hunters, 
who  killed  more  buffalo  than  those  to  whom  I  had  abandoned 
myself.  I  would  have  done  well  to  follow  his  advice,  for  the 
Picard  and  myself  ascending  the  river  almost  eighty  leagues 
way,  ran  great  risk  of  perishing  a  thousand  times. 

We  had  only  ten  charges  of  powder  which  we  were  obliged 
to  divide  into  twenty  to  kill  wild-pigeons,  or  turtle-doves ;  but 
when  these  at  last  gave  out  we  had  recourse  to  three  hooks, 
which  we  baited  with  bits  of  putrid  barbels  dropped  by  an 
eagle.  For  two  whole  days  we  took  nothing,  and  were  thus 
destitute  of  all  support  when,  during  night  prayer,  as  we  were 
repeating  these  words  addressed  to  St.  Anthony  of  Padua, 
"  Pereunt  pericula,  cessat  et  necessitas,"  the  Picard  heard  a 
noise,  left  bis  prayers,  and  ran  to  our  hooks  which  he  drew 


'%^;^0 


'  im 


'.Mi 


%   *1: 


P^m 


138 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  HENNEPIN. 


from  tlie  watera  with  two  barbels  so  large  tliat  I  had  to  go 
and  help  him.  Without  cleaning  these  monstrous  fish  we  cut 
them  in  pieces,  and  roasted  them  on  the  coals,  our  only  little 
earthen  pot  having  been  broken.  Two  houra  after  night,  we 
were  joined  by  Mamenisi,  the  father  of  the  little  Indian  girl 
that  I  had  baptized  before  she  died ;  he  gave  us  plenty  of 
meat. 

The  next  day  the  Indians  whom  we  had  left  with  Michael 
Ako,  came  down  from  Buffalo  river  with  their  flotilla  of 
canoes  loaded  with  meat.  Aquipaguetin  had,  as  he  passed, 
told  how  exposed  the  Picard  and  I  were  on  our  voyage,  and 
the  Indian  chiefs  represented  to  us  the  cowardice  of  Michael 
Ako,  who  had  refused  to  undertake  it,  for  fear  of  dying  by 
hunger.  If  I  had  not  stopped  him,  the  Picard  would  have 
insulted  him. 

'  All  the  Indian  women  hid  their  stock  of  meat  at  the  mouth 
of  BufiTalo  river,  and  in  the  islands,  and  we  again  went  down 
the  Colbert  about  eighty  leagues  to  hunt  with  this  multitude 
of  canoes ;  from  time  to  time  the  Indians  hid  their  canoes 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  and  in  the  islands;  then  struck  in  to 
the  prairies  seven  or  eight  leagues  beyond  the  mountains, 
where  they  took,  at  different  times,  a  hundred  and  twenty 
buffaloes.  They  always  left  some  of  their  old  men  on  the 
tops  of  the  mountains  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  their  enemies. 
One  day  when  I  was  dressing  the  foot  of  one  who  called  him- 
self my  brother,  and  who  had  run  a  splinter  deep  into  his 
foot,  an  alarm  was  given  in  the  camp,  two  hundred  bowmen 
ran  out ;  and  that  brave  Indian,  although  I  had  just  made  a 
deep  incision  in  the  sole  of  his  foot  to  draw  out  the  wood, 
left  me  and  ran  even  faster  than  the  rest,  not  to  be  deprived 
of  the  glory  oi'  fighting,  but  instead  of  enemies,  they  found 
only  a  herd  of  about  eighty  stags,  who  took  flight.     The 


DISOOYERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  TALLET. 


189 


wounded  man  could  scarcely  regain  the  camp.  During  this 
alarm,  all  the  Indian  women  sang  in  a  lugubrious  tone.  The 
Picard  left  me  to  join  his  host,  and  I  remaining  with  one  called 
Otchimbi,  had  to  carry  in  the  canoe  an  old  Indian  woman  of 
over  eighty.  For  all  her  great  age,  she  threatened  to  strike 
with  her  paddle  three  children  who  troubled  us  in  the  middle 
of  our  canoe.  The  men  treated  me  well  enough,  but  as  the 
meat  was  almost  entirely  at  the  disposal  of  the  women,  I  was 
compelled,  in  order  to  get  some,  to  make  their  children's  ton- 
sures, about  as  large  as  those  of  our  religious,  for  these  little 
savages  wear  them  to  the  age  of  fifteen  or  sixteen,  and  their 
parents  make  them  with  red  hot  stones. 

We  had  another  alann  in  our  camp :  the  old  men  on  duty 
on  the  top  of  the  mountains  announced  that  they  saw  two 
warriors  in  the  distance ;  all  the  bowmen  hastened  there  with 
speed,  each  trying  to  outstrip  the  others ;  but  they  brought 
back  only  two  of  their  own  women,  who  came  to  tell  them 
that  a  party  of  their  people  were  hunting  at  the  extremity  of 
Lake  Conde  (Superior),  had  found  five  spirits  (so  they  call 
the  French) ;  who,  by  means  of  a  slave,  had  expressed  a  wish 
to  come  on,  knowing  us  to  be  among  them,  in  order  to  find 
out  whether  we  were  English,  Dutch,  Spaniards,  or  French- 
men being  unable  to  underatand  by  what  roundabout  wo  had 
reached  those  tribes. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  1680,  as  we  were  ascending  the  river 
Colbert  after  the  buffalo-hunt,  to  the  Indian  villages  we  met 
the  sieur  de  Luth,  who  came  to  the  Nadouessious,  with  five 
French  soldicre;  they  joined  us  about  two  hundred  and 
twenty  leagues  distant  from  the  country  of  the  Indians  who 
had  taken  us  ;*  as  we  had  some  knowledge  of  their  language, 


\m 


m 


^'^ 

m 


*  This  would  make  his  meeting  with  de  Luth  take  place  some  time  below 
the  Illinois,  according  to  his  description  of  the  river.    In  the  English  edition, 


•fi' 


140 


NABRATIVE  OF  FATHER  HENNEPIN. 


they  begged  us  to  accompany  them  to  the  villages  of  those 
tribes,  to  which  I  readily  agreed,  knowing  that  these  French- 
men had  not  approached  the  sacraments  for  two  years.  The 
sienr  do  Luth,  who  acted  as  captain,  see'ng  me  tired  of  ton- 
suring the  children,  and  bleeding  asthmatic  old  men  to  get  a 
mouthful  of  meat,  told  the  Indians  that  I  was  his  elder  brother, 
80  that,  having  my  subsistence  secured,!  labored  only  for  the 
salvation  of  these  Indians. 

"We  arrived  at  the  villages  of  the  Issati  on  tbo  14th  of  Au- 
gust, 1680.  I  there  found  our  chalice  and  bocks  which  I  had 
hidden  in  the  ground ;  the  tobacco  which  I  had  planted,  had 
been  choked  by  the  weeds ;  the  turnips,  cabbages,  and  other 
vegetables  were  of  extraordinary  size.  The  Indians  durst  not 
sat  them.  During  our  stay,  they  invited  us  to  a  feast  whete 
there  were  more  than  a  hundred  and  twenty  men  all  naked. 
The  first  chief,  a  relative  of  the  one  whose  body  I  had  covered 
with  a  blanket,  brought  me  a  bark  dish  of  food  which  he  put 
on  a  buffalo-robe,  dressed,  whitened,  and  trimmed  with  por- 
cupine quills  on  one  side,  and  the  curly  wool  on  the  other. 
Ho  afterward  put  it  on  my  heail,  saying :  "  He  whose  body 
thou  didst  cover,  covers  thine  ;  he  has  borne  tidings  of  thee 
to  the  land  of  souls.  Brave  was  thy  act  in  his  regard  ;  all 
the  nation  praises  thee  for  it."  He  then  reproached  the  sieur 
du  Luth,  for  not  having  covered  the  deceased's  body,  as  I  did. 
He  replied  that  he  covered  only  those  of  captains  like  him- 
self; but  the  Indian  answered,  "Pere  Louis  is  a  greater  cap- 
tain than  thou  for  his  robe  (meaning  our  brocade  chasuble), 


doubtless,  for  good  reasons,  he  says,  one  hundred  and  twenty  which  would  bring 
it  just  below  the  Wisconsin.  If  de  Luth  came  by  way  of  Lake  Superior,  it  is 
not  easy  to  see  how  he  met  them  so  far  down,  or  how  after  descending  the  Mis- 
sissippi he  needed  the  aid  of  Hennepin  in  ascending.  This  officer  who  figured 
considerably  in  the  affairs  of  Canada,  was  captain  in  the  marines,  and  was  com- 
mander of  Fort  Frontenac,  in  1696. 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


141 


which  we  have  sent  to  our  allies,  who  dwell  throe  moons 
from  this  country,  is  more  beautiful  than  that  which  thou 
wearest." 

Toward  the  end  of  September,  having  no  implements  to 
begin  .in  establishment,  we  resolved  to  tell  these  people,  that 
for  their  benefit,  we  would  have  to  retura  to  the  French  set- 
tlements.* The  grand  chief  of  the  Issati,  or  Nadouessiouz, 
consented,  and  traced  in  pencil  on  a  paper  I  gave  him,  the 
route  we  should  take  for  four  hundred  leagues.  With  this 
chart,  we  set  out,  eight  Frenchmen,  in  two  canoes,  and  de- 
scended the  rivere  St.  Francis  and  Colbert.  Two  of  our  men 
took  two  beaver-robes  at  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's  falls,  which 
the  Indians  had  hung  in  sacrifice  on  the  trees. 

We  stopped  near  Ouisconsin  river  to  smoke  some  meat ; 
three  Indians  coming  from  the  nations  we  had  left,  told  us 
that  their  great  chief  named  Pierced-pine,  having  heard  that 
one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  nation  wished  to  pursue  and  kill 
us,  had  entered  his  cabin  and  tomahawked  him,  to  prevent 
his  pernicious  design.  We  regaled  these  three  Indians  with 
meat,  of  which  wo  were  in  no  want  then. 

Two  days  after,  we  perceived  an  army  of  one  hundred  and 
forty  canoes,  filled  with  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  war- 
riors; we  thought  that  those  who  brought  the  preceding 
news  were  spies,  for  instead  of  descending  the  river  on  leav- 
ing us,  they  ascended  to  tell  their  people;  however,  the 
chiefs  of  the  little  army  visited  us  and  treated  us  very  kindly, 
and  the  same  day  descended  the  river  as  we  did  to  the  Ouis- 
consin. We  found  that  river  as  wide  as  the  Seignelay  (Il- 
linois), with  a  strong  current.  After  sailing  up  sixty  leagues, 
we  came  to  a  portage  of  half  a  league,  which  the  Nadoues- 
siouz chiefs  had  marked  for  us ;  we  slept  there  to  leave  marks 

*  Here,  a /a  ^ennfpin,  de  Luth  is  mei^ed  in  the  WA  i 


II 


/'"■••itP 


142 


NARKATIVE   OF  FATIIKR  IIENNKPIN. 


and  crosses  on  tho  trunks  of  the  trees.*  The  next  dny  we 
entered  a  river  wliich  winds  wonderfully,  for  after  six  hours 
sailing,  we  found  ourselves  opposite  the  place  where  wo 
started.  One  of  our  men  wishing  to  kill  a  swan  on  the  wing, 
capsized  his  canoe,  fortunately  not  beyond  his  depth. 

We  passed  four  lakes,  two  pretty  large,  on  the  banks  of 
which  the  Miamis  formerly  resided,  we  found  Maskoutens, 
Kikapous,  and  Outaougainy  there,  who  sow  Indian  corn  for 
their  subsistence.  All  this  country  is  as  fine  as  that  of  the 
Islinois. 

We  made  a  portage  at  a  rapid  called  Kakalin,  and  after 
about  four  hundred  lengucs  sail  from  our  leaving  the  country 
of  the  Issati,  and  Nadouessiouz,  we  arrived  safely  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  bay  of  the  Fetid,  where  we  found  Frenchmen 
trading  contrary  to  orders  with  the  Indians.  They  had  some 
little  wine  in  a  tin  flagon,  which  enabled  me  to  say  mass ;  I 
had  then  only  a  chalice  and  altar  stone ;  but  Providence  sup- 
plied me  with  vestments,  for  some  Islinois  flying  from  the 
tyraimy  of  the  Iroquois,  who  had  destroyed  a  part  of  their 
nation,  took  the  vestments  of  the  chapel  of  Father  Zenobius 
Membr^,  Recollect,  who  was  with  the  Islinois  in  their  flight. 
They  gave  me  all  they  took,  except  the  chalice,  which  they 
promised  to  give  back  in  a  few  days  for  a  present  of  tobacco. 

I  had  not  celebrated  mass  for  over  nine  months  for  want  of 
wine;  I  had  still  some  hosts.  We  remained  two  days  to 
rest,  sing  the  Te  Deum,  high  mass,  and  preach.  All  our 
Frenchmen  went  to  confession  and  communion,  to  thank 
God  for  having  preserved  us  amid  so  many  wanderings  and 
perils. 

One  of  our  Frenchmen  gave  a  gun  for  a  canoe  larger  than 

•  This  wa8  the  some  route  thnt  Marquette  took  going  down.  See  his  descrip- 
tion. The  Kakalin  rapid  had  been  previously  visited  and  explored  by  Alloue^ 
and  mentioned  in  the  Jiel,  1669-70. 


\f^\ 


DI8COVKKIK8   IN  THK  MWSTSSirri  VALI-KY. 


143 


onre,  with  which,  nftcr  sailing  a  hntulred  Icngnos,  wo  roaclicd 
Misailiinnckiimc,  where  wo  were  obliged  to  winter.  To  em- 
ploy the  timo  uset'ully,  I  prcnched  every  holyday,  and  on  tho 
Sundays  of  Advent  and  Lent.*  Tho  Ottawas  and  Ilurons 
were  often  present,  ratlicr  from  curiosity  than  from  any  in- 
clination to  live  according  to  tli<  Christian  maxims.  Theso 
last  Indians  said,  speaking  of  our  discovery,  that  they  were 
men,  hut  that  wo  Frenchmen  were  spirits,  because,  had  they 
gone  so  far,  the  strange  nations  would  have  killed  them,  while 
we  went  fearlessly  everywhere. 

During  the  winter,  wo  took  whitefish  in  Lake  Orleans 
(Huron),  in  twenty  or  twenty-two  fathoms  water.  They  served 
to  season  tho  Indian  coin,  whicli  was  our  usual  fare.  Forty- 
two  Frenchmen  trading  there  with  tho  Indians  begged  me  to 
give  them  all  tho  cord  of  St.  Francis,  which  I  readily  did, 
making  an  exhortation  at  each  ceremony. 

"We  loft  Missilimackinac  in  Easter  week,  1681,  and  were 
obliged  to  drag  our  provisions  and  canoes  on  the  ice,  more 
than  ten  leagues  on  Lake  Orleans;  having  advanced  far 
enough  on  this  fresh-water  sea,  and  the  ice  breaking,  we  em- 
barked after  Low  Sunday,  which  we  celebrated,  having  some 
little  wine  which  a  Frenchman  had  fortunately  brought,  and 
which  served  us  quite  well  the  rest  of  the  voyage.  After  a 
hundred  leagues  on  Lake  Orleans,  we  passed  the  strait  (De- 
troit), for  thirty  leagues  and  Lake  St.  Clare,f  which  is  in  the 
middle  and  entered  Lake  Conty,  where  we  killed,  with  sword 


[fi'ili: 

■  t 

,' i* 

M;r\iSf| 


'f 


*  In  the  English  edition  he  tells  us  thnt  lie  enjoyed,  during  the  winter,  the 
hospitnlity  of  Father  Piert-on,  a  Jesuit  nnd  a  fellow-townsmen  of  his  own,  whom 
he  eulogizes  there,  but  passes  over  in  perfect  silence  here.  What  was  his  reason 
in  each  case  ?     In  neither  he  mentions  the  church  at  Green  bay. 

f  This  name  is  commonly  written  St.  Clair,  but  this  is  incorrect;  we  should 
either  retain  the  French  form  Claire,  or  take  the  English  Clare.  It  received  its 
name  in  honor  of  the  founder  of  the  Franciscan  nuns,  from  the  fact  that  La  Salle 
reached  it  on  the  day  consecrated  to  her. 


^H'^h 


tf 


144 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER   IIKNNEPIN. 


and  axe,  more  tlian  thirty  stm-geon  which  came  to  spawn  on 
the  banks  of  the  lake.  On  the  way  we  met  an  Ottawa  chief 
called  Talon,  six  persons  of  whose  family  had  died  of  starva- 
tion, not  having  found  a  good  fishery  or  hunting-ground. 
This  Indian  told  us  that  the  Iroquois  had  carried  off  a  family 
of  twelve  belonging  to  his  tribe,  and  begged  us  to  deliver 
them,  if  yet  alive. 

"We  sailed  along  Lake  Conty,  and  after  a  hundred  and 
twenty  leagues  we  passed  the  strait  of  the  great  falls  of  Niag- 
ara and  Fort  Conty,  and  entering  Lake  Frontenac,  coasted 
along  the  southern  shore.  After  thirty  leagues  from  Lake 
Conty,  we  reached  the  great  Seneca  village  about  Whitsun- 
day, 1681.  Wo  entered  the  Iroquois  council  and  asked  them, 
why  they  had  enslaved  twelve  of  our  Ottawa  allies,  telling 
them  that  those  whom  they  had  taken,  were  children  of  the 
governor  of  the  French,  as  well  as  the  Iroquois,  and  that  by 
this  violence,  they  declared  war  on  the  French.  To  induce 
them  to  restore  our  allies,  we  gave  them  two  belts  of  wam- 
pum. 

The  next  day  the  Iroquois  answered  us  by  two  belts,  that 
the  Ottawas  had  been  carried  off  by  some  mad  young  war- 
riors ;  that  we  might  assure  the  governor  of  the  French,  that 
the  Iroquois  would  hearken  to  him  in  all  things ;  that  they 
wished  to  live  with  Onontio  like  real  children  with  their 
father  (so  they  call  the  governor  of  Canada),  and  that  they 
would  restore  those  whom  they  had  taken. 

A  chief  named  Teganeot,  who  spoke  for  his  whole  nation 
in  all  the  councils,  made  me  a  present  of  otter  and  beaver- 
skins,  to  the  value  of  over  twenty-five  crowns.  I  took  it  with 
one  hand,  and  gave  it  with  the  other  to  his  son,  telling  him 
that  I  gave  it  to  him  to  buy  goods  of  the  other  Frenchmen; 
that  as  for  us,  Barefeet,  as  the  Iroquois  called  us,  we  would 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


146 


not  take  beaver  or  peltries ;  but  that  I  would  report  their 
friendly  feeling  to  the  governor  of  the  French.    This  Iroquois 
chief  was  surprised  at  my  refusing  his  present,  and  told  his 
own  people  that  the  other  French  did  not  do  so.    "We  took 
leave  of  the  chief  men,  and  after  sailing  forty  leagues  on  the 
lake,  reached  Fort  Fnmtenac,  where  the  dear  Kecollect  Father 
Luke  was  greatly  surprised  to  see  me,  as  for  two  years  it  had 
been  reported  that  the  Indians  had  hung  me  with  our  Fran- 
ciscan cord.    All  the  inhabitants,  French  and  Indians,  whom 
we  had  gathered  at  Fort  Frontenac,  welcomed  me  with  ex- 
traordinary joy  at  my  return  ;  the  Indians  calling  me  Atkon,  ' 
and  putting  their  hand  to  their  mouth,  which  means,  Barefcet 
is  a  spirit  to  have  travelled  so  far.    At  the  mouth  of  Lake 
Frontenac  the  current  is  strong,  and  the  more  you  descend 
the  more  it  increases ;  the  rapids  are  frightful.    In  two  days 
and  a  half  we  descended  the  river  St.  Lawrence  so  rapidly 
that  we  reached  Montreal  (sixty  miles  from  the  fort),  where 
the  count  de  Frontenac,  governor-general  of  all  New  France 
then  was.    This  governor  received  me  as  well  as  a  man  of 
his  probity  can  receive  a  missionary.    As  he  believed  me 
killed  by  the  Indians,  he  was  for  a  time  thunderstruck,  be- 
lieving me  to  be  some  other  religious.     He  beheld  me 
wasted,  without  a  cloak,  with  a  habit  patched  with  pieces  of 
buffalo-skin.    He  took  me  with  him  for  twelve  days  to  re- 
cover, and  himself  gave  me  the  meat  I  was  to  eat,  for  fear  I 
should  fall  sick  by  eating  too  much  afker  so  long  a  diet.    I 
rendered  him  an  exact  account  of  my  voyage,  and  repre- 
sented to  him  the  advantage  of  our  discovery.* 

*  Of  course  the  English  edition  says,  nothing  about  this  exact  acoonnlj  nor 
tells  how  he  concealed  the  truth  and  avoided  questions. 

10 


.djw^j'"' 


i'l-'^tj 


■i^y 


I 


^^%i 


I 


c 
i 


NARRATIVE 


OF  THE  ADVENTURES  OF 


LA  SALLE'S  PARTY  AT  FORT  CREVECCEUR,  IN  ILINOIS, 

FROM  FEBRUARY,  1680,  TO  JUNE,  1681,  BY 

FATEEB  ZEN0BIU8  MEMBRE,  RECOLLECT* 


^'M^hm^ 


■  m 


.111  ^ 


FATHER  LOUIS  (HENNEPIN)  having  set  out  on  the 
29th  of  February,  1680,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  left  the 
sieur  de  Tonty  as  commander  of  Fort  Crevecceur  with  am- 
munitions, and  provisions,  and  peltries,  to  pay  the  workmen 

*  If  the  projects  of  La  Salle  had  raised  up  Dgainst  him  pertinacious  enemies^ 
they  nevertheless  drew  around  him  a  few  faithful  and  devoted  friends,  and  none 
more  conspicuous  than  the  excellent  missionary  whose  journals  we  here  insert 
The  amiable  Father  Membr6  is  the  name  under  which  all  seem  to  delight  in  pre- 
Renting  him  to  us,  so  much  were  thej  touched  by  his  goodness  of  heart  Were 
it  prudent  to  credit  Hennepin's  last  work  for  anything  new,  we  might  say,  that 
Membr6  was  born  at  Bapaume,  a  small  fortified  town,  now  in  France,  but  then 
in  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  and  that  he  was  a  cousin  of  Father  Christian  le 
Clercq,  who  published  his  journals  in  the  "  Etablissement  de  la  Foi."  It  was 
probably  on  entering  tlie  Recollect  convent  in  Artois,  where  he  was  the  first  novice 
in  the  new  province  of  St  Anthony,  that  he  assumed  the  name  of  ZenobiuSk 
With  his  cousin  le  Gleroq,  he  was  the  first  sent  by  that  province  to  Canada 
where  he  arrived  in  1676,  from  which  time  till  that  of  his  departure  for  Fronte- 
nac,  in  September,  1678,  he  was  probably  employed  at  the  convent  of  Quebec,  as 
his  name  does  not  appear  in  any  of  tlie  neighboring  parish  registers  examined  to 
obtain  his  autograph.  From  Fort  Frontenao  he  accompanied  La  Salle  to  Niagara, 
Mackinaw,  and,  at  last,  to  Fort  Crevec<%ur,  in  Illinois.  Here  he  was  left  by  that 
commander  with  Tonty  and  Father  Gabriel  de  la  Rebourde,  with  whom  on  the 
inroad  of  the  Iroc[uoia  and  flight  of  the  Illinois  he  endeavored  to  reach  Green 


:"^ii 


!M-    1''l 


148 


KABBATIVE  OF  FAfHER  MEMBBE. 


as  agreed,  and  merchandise  to  trade  with  and  buy  provisions 
as  we  needed  them,  and  having  lastly  given  ordera  as  to  what 
was  to  be  done  in  his  absence,  set  ont  with  four  Frenchmen 
and  an  Indian  on  the  2d  of  March,  1680.  He  arrived  on 
the  11th  at  the  great  Uinois  village  where  I  then  was,  and 
thence,  after  twenty-four  hours'  stay,  he  continued  his  route 

Bay.    Father  Gabriel  perished  on  the  way  by  the  hand  of  the  Kikapoos ;  the 
survivors  were  hospitably  received  by  the  Jesuits  at  Green  Bay,  where  they 
wintered,  and  in  the  spring  proceeded  to  Mackinaw  with  Father  Enjalran. 
Here  La  Salle  soon  joined  them,  and  Menibr^,  after  a  voyage  to  Fort  Frontenao, 
and  probably  to  Montreal,  with  that  commander  in  the  spring  of  1681,  descended 
the  Mississippi  with  him  to  the  gulf,  and  on  their  return  proceeded  at  his  request 
to  France  in  1682,  to  lay  before  the  government  the  result  of  the  expedition. 
He  left  a  journal  of  his  voyage  at  Quebec;  but,  as  ho  declined  communicating  it 
to  the  new  governor,  De  la  Barre,  the  latter,  in  his  report  to  the  home  govern- 
ment, throws  imputations  on  any  account  of  the  missionary,  which  raust^  how- 
ever, be  ascribed  only  to  bias  and  dissatisfaction.    After  fulfilling  his  mission  at 
court.   Father  Membr4  became  warden  of  the  recollects  at  Bapaume,   and 
remained  so  till  he  was  appointed  at  La  Salle's  request,  superior  of  the  mission- 
aries who  were  to  accompany  his  expedition  by  sea.    Father  Membre  reached 
Texas  in  safety,  and  though  nearly  drowned  in  the  wreck  of  one  of  the  vessels, 
was  left  by  La  Salle  in  good  health  at  Fort  St  Louis,  in  Januaiy,  1687,  intending 
as  soon  a»  poiisible  to  begin  a  mission  among  the  friendly  Cenis,  with  Father 
Maximus  le  Olercq.    The  colony  was,  however,  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Indians,  for, 
when  in  1689,  a  party  of  Spaniards  set  out  to  expel  the  French  as  intruders,  all 
was  silent  as  they  drew  near;  to  their  horror  they  found  on  reaching  it  nothing 
but  dead  bodies  within  and  without:  priest  and  soldier,  husband  and  vrife,  old 
and  young,  lay  dead  before  them,  pierced  with  arrows,  or  crushed  with  clubs  1 
Touched  with  compassion,  the  Spaniards  committed  their  remains  to  a  common 
grave,  and  retired.     Here  Father  Membr^  perished,  but  earth  has  no  record 
of  the  day.    He  was  not,  apparently,  a  man  of  refined  education,  nor  is  this  a 
reproach,  as  his  order  was  not  intended  to  direct  colleges  and  seats  of  learning, 
but  to  preach  to  the  poor  and  lowly.    But  though  his  journal  u  often  involved 
and  obscure,  it  bears  intrinsic  marks  of  fidelity,  and  shows  him  to  have  been 
less  prejudiced  than  many  of  his  oompaniona.    Fitted  rather  for  the  quiet  direc- 
tion of  a  simple  flock,  his  zeal  could  not  bear  up  against  the  hardships  and  bar- 
renness of  an  Indian  mission  for  which  no  previous  training  or  associations  had 
fitted  him,  while  his  many  wanderings  tended  still  more  to  prevent  his  useful- 
ness.   His  only  permanent  mission  was  in  Illinois,  where  he  labored  assiduously 
with  Father  Gabriel  from  March  to  September,  1680,  notwithstanding  the  re- 
pugnance which  he  felt  for  the  ungrateful  field.    They  are,  accordingly,  after 
the  Jesuits,  Marquette,  and  Alloue^  the  first  missionaries  of  Illinois,  and  worthy 
of  a  distinguished  place  in  her  annale^  and  of  the  noble  eulogy  of  Mr.  Sparks^  on 
the  missionaries  of  New  France. 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


149 


on  foot  over  the  ice  to  Fort  Frontenac.    From  our  arrival  at 
Fort  Crevecoeur  on  the  14th  of  January  past,  Father  Gabriel, 
our  superior,  Father  Louis,  and  myself,  had  raised  a  cabin  in 
which  we  had  established  some  little  regularity,  exercising 
our  functions  as  missionaries  to  the  French  of  our  party,  and 
the  Ilinois  Indians  who  came  in  crowds.    As  by  the  end  of 
February  I  already  knew  a  part  of  their  language,  because  I 
spent  the  whole  of  the  day  in  the  Indian  camp,  which  was  but 
half  a  league  off,  our  father  superior  appointed  me  to  follow 
when  they  were  about  to  return  to  their  village.  A  chief  named 
Oumahouha  had  adopted  me  as  his  son  in  the  Indian  fashion 
and  M.  de  la  Salle  had  made  him  presents  to  take  care  of 
me.    Father  Gabriel  resolved  to  stay  at  the  fort  with  the  sieur 
de  Tonty  and  the  workmen ;  this  had  been,  too,  the  request  of 
the  sieur  de  la  Salle  who  hoped  that  by  his  credit  and  the 
apparent  confidence  of  the  people  in  him,  he  would  be  able 
to  keep  them  in  order,  but  God  permitted  that  the  good  in- 
tentions in  which  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  thought  he  left  them, 
should  not  last  long.    On  the  thirteenth,  he  himself  had  met 
two  of  his  men  whom  he  had  sent  to  Missilimakinac  to  meet 
his  vessel,  but  who  had  got  no  tidings  of  it.    He  addressed 
them  to  the  sieur  de  Tonty ;  but  these  evil  disposed  men  cab- 
alled so  well,  that  they  excited  suspicion  and  dissatisfaction 
in  most  of  those  there,  so  that  almost  all  deserted,  carrying 
off  the  ammunition,  provisions,  and  all  that  was  in  the  store. 
Two  of  them  who  were  conducting  Father  Gabriel  to  the 
Ilinois  village  where  M.  de  Tonty  had  come  on  a  visit,  aban- 
doned the  good  father  at  night  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  and 
spiked  the  guns  of  the  sieur  de  Boisrondet,  and  the  man 
called  Lesperance,  who  were  in  the  same  canoe,  but  not  in 
their  plot.    They  informed  the  sieur  de  Tonty  who,  finding 
himself  destitute  of  everything,  sent  four  of  those  who  re- 


...M  'f 


irf'l*l;i| 


ilt 


mM 


160 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MEMBRB. 


inained  by  two  different  routes  to  inform  the  sieur  de  la 
Salle. 

The  perfidious  wretches  assembled  at  the  fort  which  the 
sieur  de  la  Salle  had  built  at  the  mouth  of  the  Myamis'  river, 
demolished  the  fort,  carried  off  all  that  was  there,  and  as  we 
learned  some  months  after,  went  to  Missilimackinac,  where 
they  seized  the  peltries  belonging  to  the  sieur  de  la  Salle, 
and  left  in  store  there  by  him. 

The  only  great  Ilinois  village  being  composed  of  seven  or 
eight  thousand  souls.  Father  Gabriel  and  I  had  a  sufficient 
field  for  the  exercise  of  our  zeal,  besides  the  few  French  who 
soon  after  came  there.  There  are,  moreover,  the  Miamis  sit- 
uated southeast  by  south  of  the  bottom  of  Lake  Dauphin,  on 
the  borders  of  a  pretty  fine  river,  about  fifteen  leagues  inland 
at  41°  N". ;  the  nation  of  the  Maskoutens  and  Outagamies, 
who  dwell  at  about  43°  N.,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  called 
Melleoki  (Milwauki),  which  empties  into  Lake  Dauphin,  veiy 
neai*  their  village ;  on  the  western  side  the  Kikapous  and  the 
Ainoves  (lowas),  who  form  two  villages ;  west  of  these  last, 
above  the  river  Checagoumemant,  the  village  of  the  Ilinois 
Cascaschia,  situated  west  of  the  bottom  of  Lake  Dauphin,  a 
little  southwest  at  about  41°  N. ;  the  Anthoutantas*  and 
Maskoutens,  Nadouessions,  about  one  hundred  and  thirty 
leagues  from  the  Ilinois,  in  three  great  villages  built  near  a 
river  which  empties  into  the  river  Colbert  on  the  west  side, 
above  that  of  the  Ilinois,  almost  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Miskoncing  in  the  same  river.  I  might  name  here  a  number 
of  other  tribes,  with  whom  we  had  intercourse,  and  to  whom 
French  coureurs-de-bois,  or  lawfully  sent,  rambled  while  I 
was  with  the  Ilinois,  under  favor  of  our  discovery. 

The  greater  part  of  these  tribes,  and  especially  the  Ilinois, 

*  The  Otontantas  of  Marquette's  real  map. 


DISCOVEBIBS   IN   THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


161 


with  whom  I  have  had  intercoureo,  make  tlieir  cabins  of 
double  mats  of  flat  rushes  sewed  together.  Thoy  are  tall  of 
stature,  strong,  and  robust,  and  good  archers ;  they  had  as 
yet,  no  firearms ;  we  gave  them  some.  They  are,  wander- 
ing, idle,  fearful,  and  desolate,  almost  without  respect  for 
their  chiefs,  irritable,  and  thievish.  Their  villages  are  not 
enclosed  with  palisades,  and  being  too  cowardly  to  defend 
them,  they  take  to  flight  at  the  first  news  of  a  hostile  army. 
The  richness  and  fertility  of  the  country  gives  them  fields 
everywhere.  They  have  used  iron  implements  and  arms 
only  since  our  arrival.  Besides  the  bow,  they  use  in  war  a 
kind  of  short  pike,  and  wooden  maces.*  Hermaphrodites  are 
numerous.  They  have  many  wives,  and  often  take  several 
sisters  that  they  may  agree  better ;  and  yet  thoy  are  so  jeal- 
ous that  they  cut  off  their  noses  on  the  slightest  suspicion. 
They  are  lewd,  and  even  unnaturally  so,  having  boys  dressed 
as  women,  destined  for  infamous  purposes.  These  boys  are 
employed  only  in  women's  work,  without  taking  part  in  the 
chase  or  war.  They  are  very  superstitious,  although  they 
have  no  religious  worship.  They  are,  besides,  much  given 
to  play,  like  all  the  Indians  in  America,  that  I  am  able  to 
know.f 

As  there  are  in  their  country  many  serpents,  these  Indians 
know  herbs  much  superior  to  our  orviotan  and  theriaque,  for 

*  All  agree  iu  the  great  skill  of  the  Illinois  bowmen,  and  even  as  late  aa 
1692-'3,  when  Rale  was  with  them,  they  had  not  yet  begun  to  use  guns. 

f  Neither  Marquette  nor  Allouez  first,  nor  Membr6  and  Douay,  afterward, 
allude  to  the  mode  of  burial  among  the  Illinois,  which  is  stated  by  F.  Rale,  and 
deserves  to  be  mentioned.  "Their  custom,"  says  he,  "is  not  to  bury  the  dead, 
but  to  wrap  them  in  skins,  and  to  attach  them  by  the  head  and  feet  to  the  topa 
of  trees."  See  his  letter  in  Kip's  "Jesuit  Missions,"  p.  38.  The  use  made  of  this 
trait  by  the  French  poets  is  familiar  to  the  readers  of  Delille.  On  the  whole 
however,  the  various  descriptions  of  the  Illinois  and  their  country  by  Marquette, 
Allouez,  Membre,  Henuepin,  Douay,  loutel,  Tonty,  Rale,  and  Marest,  are  remark- 
ably alike :  all  but  those  of  the  two  last  are  contained  in  the  present  series  of  Hist. 
Collectiona,  and  these  will  be  found  in  the  translation  of  Mr.  Eip,  already  cited. 


m 

#11.        "  "  ■' 


'!;i 


im 


163 


NARRATIVE   01    FATHER  MKMBRB. 


after  rubbing  themselves  with  them,  they  can  without  fear 
play  with  the  most  venomous  insects,  and  even  put  them 
some  distance  down  their  throat.  They  go  perfectly  naked 
in  summer  except  the  feet,  which  are  covered  with  shoes  of 
ox-hide,  and  in  winter  they  protect  themselves  against  the 
cold  (which  is  piercing  in  these  parts  though  of  short  dura- 
tion), with  skins  which  they  dress  and  card  very  neatly. 

Although  we  were  almost  destitute  of  succor,  yet  the  sieur 
de  Tonty  never  lost  courage  ;  ho  kept  up  his  position  among 
the  Ilinois  either  by  inspiring  them  all  the  hopes  which  he 
built  on  the  sieur  de  la  Salle's  return,  or  by  instructing  them 
in  the  use  of  firearms,  and  many  arts  in  the  European  way. 
As  during  the  following  summer  a  rumor  ran  that  the  Myamis 
wished  to  move  and  join  the  Iroquois,  he  taught  them  how  to 
defend  themselves  by  palisades,  and  even  made  them  erect  a 
kind  of  little  fort  with  intrenchments,  so  that,  had  they  had  a 
little  more  courage,  I  have  no  doubt  they  would  have  been 
in  a  position  to  sustain  themselves. 

Meanwhile,  from  the  flight  and  desertion  of  our  men  about 
the  middle  of  March  to  the  month  of  September,  Father  Ga- 
briel and  I  devoted  ourselves  constantly  to  the  mission.  An 
Ilinois  named  Asapista,  with  whom  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  had 
contracted  friendship,  adopted  Father  Gabriel  as  his  son,  so 
that  that  good  father  found  in  his  cabin  a  subsistence  in  the 
Indian  fashion.  As  winn  failed  us  for  the  celebration  of  the 
divine  mysteries,  we  found  means,  toward  the  close  of  Au- 
gust, to  get  wild  grapes  which  began  to  ripen,  and  we  made 
very  good  wine  which  served  us  to  say  mass  till  the  second 
disaster,  which  happened  a  few  days  after.  The  clusters  of 
these  grapes  are  of  prodigious  size,  of  very  agreeable  taste, 
and  have  seeds  larger  than  those  of  Europe.* 

*  In  Brown't  "Hiatoiy  of  Amerioon  Treee^"  we  fail  to  find  any  notice  of  the 


DISCOVERIKS   IN   TUB  MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 


158 


With  regard  to  convoi-sions,  I  can  not  roly  on  any.  During 
the  whole  time  Fatlior  Gabriel  unraveled  their  language  a 
little,  and  I  can  say  that  I  spoke  so  as  to  make  myself  under- 
stood by  the  Indians  on  all  that  I  wished ;  but  there  is  in 
these  savages  such  an  alienation  from  the  faith,  so  brutal  and 
narrow  a  mind,  such  corrupt  and  antichristian  morals,  that 
great  time  would  be  needed  to  hope  for  any  fruit.  It  is,  how- 
ever, true  that  I  found  many  of  quite  docile  character.  We 
baptized  some  dying  children,  and  two  or  three  dying  per- 
sons who  manifested  proper  dispositions.  As  these  people  are 
entirely  material  in  their  ideas,  they  would  have  submitted 
to  baptism,  had  wo  liked,  but  without  any  knowledge  of  the 
sacrament.  We  found  two  who  had  joined  us,  and  promised 
to  follow  us  everywhere ;  we  believed  that  they  would  keep 
their  word,  and  that  by  this  means  we  would  insure  their 
baptisms ;  but  I  afterward  felt  great  scruples  when  I  learned 
than  an  Indian  named  Ghassagouache,  who  had  been  bap- 
tized, had  died  in  the  hands  of  the  medicine-men,  abandoned 
to  their  superstitions,  and  consequently  doubly  a  child  of 
bell. 

During  the  summer,  we  followed  our  Indians  in  their 
camps,  and  to  the  chase.  I  also  made  a  voyage  to  the  My- 
amis  to  learn  something  of  their  dispositions ;  thence  I  went 
to  visit  other  villages  of  the  Ilinois  all,  however,  with  no  great 
success,  finding  only  cause  for  chagrin  at  the  deplorable  state 
and  blindness  of  these  nations.  It  is  such  that  I  can  not  ex- 
press it  fully. 

Thus  far  we  enjoyed  a  pretty  general  peace,  though  mean- 
early  wine-making  in  the  country  by  the  catholic  missionnrieB.  They  were  cer- 
tainly the  first  in  the  northern  parts.  Sagard,  in  his  "  History  of  Canada"  (ch. 
9),  details  the  modus  operandi  of  probably  the  first  wine-making  in  the  country. 
The  Jesuit  missionaries  were  afterward  frequently  compelled  to  do  so,  in  order 
to  say  mass,  as  we  find  repeated  allusions  to  it  in  the  Relations  from  Maine  to 
the  Mississippi 


ii^ii 


,rir 


,KuJ: 


154 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MBMBRE. 


while,  a  cruel  war,  which  wo  knew  not,  was  machinating. 
While  we  were  still  at  Fort  Frontenac,  the  year  before  the 
sieur  de  la  Salle  learned  that  his  enemies  had,  to  baffle  his 
designs,  excited  the  Iroquois  to  resume  their  former  hostilities 
against  the  Ilinois,  which  had  been  relinquished  for  several 
yeare.  They  sought  too  to  draw  the  Myamis  into  the  same 
war.  This  is  a  tribe  which  formerly  dwelt  beyond  the  Il- 
inois, as  regards  the  Iroquois  and  Fort  Frontenac.  They 
had  persuaded  them  to  invite  the  Iroquois  by  an  embassy  to 
join  thom  against  their  common  enemy ;  those  who  came  to 
treat  of  this  affair  with  the  Iroquois,  brought  letters  from  some 
ill-disposed  Frenchmen  who  had  correspondents  in  those 
tribes,  for  there  were  at  that  time  many  coureurs  de  bois. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle  happened  to  be  among  the  Senecas 
when  this  embassy  arrived ;  the  moment  seemed  unfavorable, 
and  the  embassadors  were  privately  warned  that  they  risked 
their  lives,  if  they  did  not  depari,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  sieiw 
de  la  Salle  being  a  friend  of  the  Ilinois.  The  Myamis,  how- 
ever, left  his  former  country,  and  came  and  took  up  a  posi- 
tion where  he  is  now  between  the  Iroquois  and  the  Ilinois. 
This  was  afterward  believed  intentional,  and  we  having  to 
pass  through  both  these  nations  suspected  by  each  other, 
might  become  so  to  one  of  them  who  would  then  prevent  our 
progress.  Monsieur  de  la  Salle,  on  his  arrival  at  the  Ilinois 
last  year,  made  peace  between  the  two  nations ;  but  as  the 
Indians  are  very  inconstant  and  faithless,  the  Iroquois  and 
the  Myamis  afterward  united  against  the  Ilinois,  by  means 
which  are  differently  related. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  about  the  10th  of  September,  in  the  pres- 
ent year,  1680,  the  Ilinois  allies  of  Chaouenons  (Shawnees), 
were  warned  by  a  Shawnee,  who  was  returning  home  from 
an  Ilinois  voyage,  but  turned  back  to  advise  them,  that  he 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


155 


had  discovered  an  Iroquois  aiiny,  four  or  five  hundred  strong, 
who  had  ah'eady  entered  their  territory.  The  scouts  sent  out 
by  the  Ilinois  confirmed  what  the  Shawnee  had  said,  adding 
that  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  was  there.  For  this  there  was  no 
foundation,  except  that  the  Iroquois  chief  had  a  hat  and  a 
kind  of  vest.  They  at  once  talked  of  tomahawking  us,  but 
the  sieur  de  Tonty  imdeceived  them,  and  to  show  the  falsity 
of  the  report,  offered  to  go  with  the  few  men  he  had  to  fight 
the  Iroquois  with  them.  The  Ilinois  had  already  sent  out  to 
war  the  greater  part  of  the  young  men,  yet  the  next  day  they 
took  the  field  against  the  enemy,  whom  the  Myamis  had  rein- 
forced with  a  great  number  of  their  warriore.  This  multitude 
terrified  the  Ilinois ;  nevertheless,  they  recovered  a  little  at 
the  solicitation  of  the  sieur  de  Tonty  and  the  French ;  they  at 
first  mingled  and  wrangled,  but  the  sieur  de  Tonty  having 
grounds  to  fear  for  the  Ilinois  who  had  almost  no  firearms, 
offered  to  put  matters  in  negotiation,  and  to  go  to  the  Iroquois 
as  a  man  of  peace,  bearing  the  calumet.  The  latter  hoping 
to  surprise  the  Ilinois,  and  seeing  their  hopes  baffled  by  tho 
state  in  which  they  found  them  resolved  for  battle,  received 
without  any  demur  a  man  who  came  with  a  calumet  of  peace, 
telling  them,  that  the  Ilinois  were  his  brothers,  friends  of  the 
French,  and  under  tho  protection  of  Ononto,  their  common  fa- 
ther. I  was  beside  the  sieur  de  Tonty,  when  an  Iroquois,  whom 
I  had  known  in  the  Seneca  village,  recognised  me.  These 
proposals  for  peace  did  not,  however,  please  some  young  men 
whose  hands  itched  for  fight ;  suddenly  a  volley  of  balls  and 
arrows  came  whizzing  around  us,  and  a  young  Onondaga  ran 
up  with  a  drawn  knife  and  struck  M.  de  Tonty  near  the 
heart,  the  knife  fortunately  glancing  off  a  rib.  They  imme- 
diately surrounded  him,  and  wished  to  carry  him  off;  but 
when,  by  his  eara,  which  were  not  pierced,  they  saw  that  he 


v:i 


m 


1.  ■■ti 


1/ 


156 


NARRATIVE  OF   FATHER   MKMDRB. 


was  a  Frenchman,  one  of  the  Iroquois  chiefs  asked  loudly, 
what  they  had  meant  by  striking  a  Frenchman  in  that  way  1 
that  he  must  be  spared,  and  drew  forth  a  belt  of  wampum  to 
stanch  the  blood,  and  make  a  plaster  for  the  wound. 
Nevertheless  a  mad  young  Iroquois  having  hoisted  the  sicur 
de  Tonty's  hat  on  a  gun  to  intimidate  the  Ilinois,  the  latter 
believing  by  this  sign  that  Tonty  was  dead,  we  were  all  in 
danger  of  losing  our  heads ;  but  the  Iroquois  having  told  us 
to  show  ourselves  and  stop  both  armies,  wo  did  so.  The  Iro- 
quois received  the  calumet  and  pretended  to  retire;  but 
scarcely  had  the  Ilinois  reached  his  village,  when  the  Iro- 
quois appeared  on  the  opposite  hills. 

This  movement  obliged  the  sieur  de  Tonty  and  the  chiefs 
of  the  nation  to  depute  me  to  these  savages  to  know  their 
reason.  Thi*^  was  not  a  very  agreeable  mission  to  a  savage 
tribe,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  especially  after  the  risk  I  had 
already  run ;  nevertheless,  I  made  up  my  mind,  and  Ood 
preserved  me  from  all  harm.  I  spoke  with  them ;  they  treated 
me  very  kindly,  and  at  last  told  mo,  that  the  reason  of  their 
approach  was,  that  they  had  nothing  to  eat.  I  made  my  re- 
port to  the  Ilinois,  who  gave  them  their  fill,  and  even  offered  to 
trade  for  beaver  and  other  furs,  very  abundant  in  those  parts. 
The  Iroquois  agreed,  hostages  were  given  and  received,  and 
I  went  with  an  Ilinois  to  the  enemy's  camp,  where  we  slept. 
The  Iroquois  came  in  greater  numbers  into  that  of  the  Ilinois, 
and  even  advanced  to  their  village,  committing  hostilities  so 
far  as  to  disinter  the  dead,  and  destroy  their  com ;  in  a  word, 
seeking  a  quarrel,  under  show  of  peace,  they  fortified  them- 
selves in  the  village.  The  Ilinois,  on  the  first  announcement 
of  war,  had  made  their  families  draw  off  behind  a  hill,  to  put 
them  out  of  sight,  and  enable  them  to  reach  the  Mississippi, 
80  that  the  Iroquois  found  the  village  empty.    The  Ilinois 


DIS0OVERIK8   IN  THB   MISSISSIPPI  VALLKT. 


167 


warriors  retired  in  troops  on  the  hills,  and  even  gradually  dis- 
persed, so  that  we  seeing  ourselves  abandoned  by  our  hosts, 
who  no  longer  appeared  in  force,  and  left  alone  exposed  to 
to  the  fury  of  a  savage  and  victorious  enemy,  were  not  long 
in  resolving  to  retreat.    The  reverend  father  Gabriel,  the 
gieur  de  Tonty,  the  few  French  who  were  with  us,  and  my- 
self, began  our  march  on  the  18th  of  September,  without  pro- 
visions, food,  or  anything,  in  a  wretched  bark  canoe,  which 
breaking  the  next  day,  compelled  us  to  land  about  noon  to 
repair  it.    Father  Gabriel  seeing  the  place  of  our  landing  fit 
for  walking  in  the  prairies  and  hills  with  little  groves,  as  if 
planted  by  hand,  retired  there  to  say  his  breviary  while  we 
were  working  at  the  canoe  all  the  rest  of  the  day.    We  were 
full  eight  leagues  from  the  village  ascending  the  river.    To- 
ward evening  I  went  to  look  for  the  father  seeing  that  he  did 
not  return ;  all  our  party  did  the  same ;  we  fired  repeatedly, 
to  direct  him,  but  in  vain ;  and  as  we  had  reason  to  fear  the 
Iroquois  during  the  night,  we  crossed  to  the  other  side  of  the 
river  and  lit  up  fires  which  were  also  useless.    The  next 
morning  at  daybreak,  we  returned  to  the  same  side  where 
we  were  the  day  before,  and  remained  till  noon,  making  all 
possible  search.    We  entered  the  wood,  where  we  found  sev- 
eral fresh  trails,  as  well  as  in  the  prairie  on  the  bank  of  the 
river.    We  followed  them  one  by  one  without  discovering 
anything,  except  that  M.  de  Tonty  had  ground  to  believe  and 
fear  that  some  hostile  parties  were  in  ambush  to  cut  us  all  off, 
for  seeing  us  take  flight,  the  savages  had  imagined  that  we 
declared  for  the  Ilinois.    I  insisted  on  staying  to  wait  for  pos- 
itive tidings ;  but  the  sieur  de  Tonty  forced  me  to  embark  at 
three  o'clock,  maintaining  that  the  father  had  been  killed  by 
the  enemy,  or  else  had  walked  on  along  the  bank,  so  that  fol- 
lowing it  constantly,  we  should  at  last  infallibly  meet  him. 


(,('ii 


\'i 


H%.  I  -■{■'■ 


m 


;,.:.?.  r^. 


158 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHEB  MEMBBE. 


We  got,  however,  no  tidings  of  him,  and  the  more  we  ad- 
vanced, the  more  this  affliction  unmanned  us,  and  we  sup- 
ported this  remnant  of  a  languishing  life  by  the  potatoes  and 
garlick,  and  other  roots,  that  we  found  by  scraping  the 
ground  with  our  fingere. 

"We  afterward  learned  that  we  should  have  expected  him 
uselessly,  as  he  had  been  killed  soon  after  landing.  The  Kik- 
apous,  a  little  nation  you  may  observe  on  the  west,  quite  near 
the  Winnebagoes,  had  sent  some  of  their  youth  in  war-parties 
against  the  Iroquois,  but  learning  that  the  latter  were  attack- 
ing the  Ilinois,  the  war-party  came  after  them.  Three  braves 
who  formed  a  kind  of  advanced  guard  having  met  the  good 
father  alone,  although  they  knew  that  he  was  not  an  Iroquois, 
killed  him  for  all  that,  cast  his  body  into  a  hole,  and  carried 
off  even  his  breviary,  and  diurnal,  which  soon  after  came  to 
the  hands  of  a  Jesuit  father.  They  carried  off  the  scalp  of 
this  holy  man,  and  vaunted  of  it  in  their  village  as  an  Iroquois 
scalp.  Thus  died  this  man  of  God  by  the  hands  of  some  mad 
youths.  We  can  say  of  his  body  what  the  Scripture  remarks 
of  those  whom  the  sanguinary  Herod  immolated  to  his  fury, 
"  Non  erat  qui  sepileret."  Surely  he  deserved  a  better  fate, 
if,  indeed,  we  can  desire  a  happier  one  before  God,  than  to 
die  in  the  exercise  of  the  apostolic  functions,  by  the  hands  of 
nations  to  whom  we  are  sent  by  God.  He  had  not  been 
merely  a  religious  of  common  and  ordinary  virtue ;  it  is  well 
known  that  he  had  in  Canada,  from  1670,  maintained  the 
same  sanctity  of  life  which  he  had  shown  in  France  as  supe- 
rior, inferior,  and  master  of  novices.  He  had  for  a  long  time 
in  transports  of  fervor  acknowledged  to  me  the  profound 
grief  which  he  felt  at  the  utter  blindness  of  these  people,  and 
that  he  longed  to  be  an  anathema  for  their  salvation.  His 
death,  I  doubt  not,  has  been  precious  before  God,  and  will 


DISOOVEBIES   IK  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLET. 


169 


one  day  have  its  effect  in  the  vocation  of  these  people  to  the 
faith,  when  it  shall  please  the  Almighty  to  use  his  great 
mercy.* 

We  must  admit  that  this  good  old  man,  quite  extenuated 
like  ourselves  by  want  of  everything,  would  not  have  been 
able  to  support  the  hardships  we  had  to  go  through  after 
that.  The  sieur  de  Tonty  and  de  Boisrondet,  and  two  other 
Frenchmen  with  myself,  had  still  eighty  leagues  to  make  to 
the  Fottawatamis.  Our  canoe  often  failed  us,  and  leaked  on 
all  sides.  After  some  days  we  had  to  leave  it  in  the  woods, 
and  make  the  rest  of  our  journey  by  land,  walking  barefooted 
over  the  snow  and  ice.  I  made  shoes  for  my  companions 
and  myself,  of  Father  Gabriel's  cloak.  As  we  had  no  com- 
pass, we  frequently  got  lost,  and  found  ourselves  in  the  eve- 
ning where  we  had  started  in  the  morning,  with  no  other  food 
than  acoras  and  little  roots.  At  last,  after  fifteen  days'  march, 
we  killed  a  deer,  which  was  a  great  help  to  us.    The  sieur  de 


'm 


f^'M 


!* 


iom 
!;;i 


*  Of  this  estimable  missionary,  we  know  little  but  what  was  given  in  Hennepin. 
He  was,  we  are  assured,  the  last  scion  of  a  noble  Burgundian  house,  who  not 
only  renounced  his  inlieritance  and  the  world,  to  enrol  himself  among  the  lowly 
children  of  St.  Francis,  but  even  when  advanced  in  life,  and  honored  with  the 
first  dignities  of  his  order,  soi  ^ht  the  new  and  toilsome  mission  of  Canada.  He 
came  out  among  the  first  Recollect  fathers  in  the  summer  of  16*70 ;  and,  on  the 
return  of  the  provincial,  F.  Allart  to  France,  became  commissary  and  first 
superior  of  the  mission,  as  well  as  confessor  to  Frontenac.  He  restored  such 
missions  as  circumstances  enabled  him  to  begin,  and  guided  his  little  flock  with 
such  moderation  and  skill  in  the  troublous  times  on  which  he  had  fallen  that  ho 
acquired  the  veneration  and  respect  of  all  parties.  His  moderation,  was  not,  in- 
deed, liked  by  all,  and  a  few  years  after,  F.  Eustace  Maupassant  wos  sent  out  to 
succeed  him,  and  the  venerable  Ribourdo  was  sent  as  missionary  to  Fort  Fron- 
tenac, but  not  before  he  had  witnessed  the  consecration  of  their  church  at 
Quebec.  He  was  subsequently  joined  by  Buisset  and  Hennepin,  and  consulting 
his  zeal  rather  than  his  age,  embarked  with  La  Salle.  The  date  of  his  death 
is  September  9,  1680;  he  was  then  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age,  and  had 
spent  more  than  forty  in  the  religious  state,  and,  as  master  of  novices,  trained 
many  to  imitate  his  zeal  and  virtues.  "This  holy  religious,"  with  Menibr^,  who 
was  to  perish  in  the  same  unknown  way,  are  among  the  earliest  missionaries 
of  Illinoi& 


*ii 


'k 


W'Hi 


i!M 


ll.     """Vfl 


mJ 


160 


NABRATIVE  OF  FATHEB  MEMBBE. 


Boisrondet  lost  us,  and  for  at  least  ton  days,  we  thought  him 
dead.  As  he  had  a  tin  cup,  he  melted  it  to  make  balls  for 
his  gun,  which  had  no  flint.  By  firing  it  with  a  coal,  he 
killed  some  turkeys,  on  which  he  lived  during  that  time ;  at 
last  we  fortunately  met  at  the  Pottawatami  village,  where 
their  chief,  Onanghissc,  quite  well  known  among  those  na- 
tions, welcomed  us  most  cordially.  He  used  to  say,  that  he 
knew  only  three  great  captains,  M.  de  Frontonac,  M.  de  la 
Salle,  and  himself.  This  chief  harangued  all  his  people  who 
contributed  to  furnish  us  food.  Not  one  of  us  could  stand  for 
weakness;  we  w^ere  like  skeletons,  the  sieur  do  Tonty  ex- 
tremely sick,  but  being  a  little  recruited,  I  found  some  In- 
dians going  to  the  bay  of  the  Fetid,  where  the  Jesuits  have  a 
house.*  I  accordingly  set  out  for  it,  and  can  not  express  the 
hardships  I  had  to  undergo  on  the  way.  The  sieur  de  Tonty 
followed  us  soon  after  with  the  rest.  We  can  not  sufficiently 
acknowledge  the  charity  these  good  fathera  displayed  toward 
us  until  the  thaws  began,  when  we  set  out  with  Father  Enjal- 
ran  in  a  canoe  for  Missilimakinac,  hoping  to  find  news  there 
f  om  Canada. 

From  the  Ilinois,  we  had  always  followed  the  route  by 
the  north,  had  God  permitted  us  to  take  that  by  the  south  of 
Lake  Dauphin,  we  should  have  met  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  who 
was  coming  with  well-furnished  canoes  from  Fort  Frontenac, 
and  had  gone  by  the  south  to  the  Ilinois,  where  he  expected 

*  This  is  more  frank  than  Hennepin,  who  in  his  first  edition  mentions  neither 
those  at  Green  Bay,  nor  those  at  Mackinaw,  and  would  have  us  believe  that  he 
was  the  only  missionary  to  be  found  in  these  parts.  In  his  last  edition  he 
acknowledges  that  he  met  his  countryman,  Father  Pierson,  at  Mackinaw.  He 
must  have  passed  Green  Bay  a  few  days  before  the  arrival  of  Membr6,  which  was 
about  October  22,  as  Tonty  seems  to  say  (vol.  i.,  p.  69),  and  Hennepin  started 
for  Green  Bay  by  the  Wisconsin,  in  the  close  of  September.  They  failed  to  meet 
at  Mackinaw,  also,  for  Hennepin  left  it  at  Easter,  and  Membre  reached  only  on 
the  octave  of  Corpus  ChristL  This  will  account  for  the  silence  of  both  aa  to 
each  other. 


DI8COVEEIE8   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


161 


to  find  us  with  all  his  people  in  good  order  as  he  had  left  us, 
when  he  started  in  the  preceding  year  (March  2d,  1680). 

Tliis  he  told  us  himself  when  he  arrived  at  Missilimakinac, 
about  the  middle  of  June,  when  he  found  us  a  little  restored 
from  our  sufferings.  I  leave  you  to  conceive  our  mutual  joy, 
damped,  though  it  was,  by  the  narrative  he  made  us  of  all 
his  misfortunes,  and  by  that  we  made  him  or  our  tragical  ad- 
ventures. He  told  us,  that  after  our  departure  from  Fort 
Frontenac,  they  had  excited  bis  creditors  before  the  time  to 
seize  his  property  and  all  his  effects,  on  a  rumor  which  had 
been  spread,  that  he  had  been  drowned  with  all  his  people. 
He  told  us  that  his  ship,  the  Griflfin,  had  perished  in  the 
lakes  a  few  days  after  leaving  the  bay  of  the  Fetid ;  that  the 
captain,  sailors,  and  more  than  ten  thousand  crowns  in  mer- 
chandise, had  been  lost  and  never  heard  of.  He  had  sent 
little  fleets  of  canoes  to  trade  right  and  left  on  Lake  Fron- 
tenac ;  but  these  wretches,  he  told  us,  had  profited  by  the  prin- 
cipal and  the  trade,  without  his  being  able  to  obtain  any  jus- 
tice from  those  who  should  have  rendered  it,  notwithstanding 
all  the  efforts  made  by  M.  de  Frontenac,  the  governor  in  his 
favor ;  that  to  complete  his  misfortunes,  a  vessel  coming  from 
France  with  a  cargo  for  his  account,  amounting  to  twenty- 
two  thousand  livrcs,  had  been  wrecked  on  St.  Peter's  islands 
in  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence;  that  canoes  ascending  from  Mon- 
treal to  Fort  Frontenac  loaded  with  goods,  had  been  lost  in 
the  rapids ;  in  a  word,  that  except  the  count  de  Frontenac, 
all  Canada  seemed  in  league  against  his  undertaking;  the 
men  he  had  brought  from  France  had  been  seduced  from 
him,  some  had  run  off  with  his  goods  to  New  York,  and  as 
regai'ded  the  Canadians  who  had  joined  him,  means  had 
been  found  to  work  upon  them,  and  draw  them  from  his  in- 
terests. 

11 


■!  r- 


mil 


./.Jlr 


if!j  ,,  ^'Um 


^m 


m 


m 


\L  pis 


162 


NABBATIYE  OF  FATHER  MEMBBE. 


Although  he  had  left  Fort  Frontenac  in  his  bark  on  the 
23d  of  July,  1680,  he  was  detained  on  the  lake  by  head 
winds  so  that  he  could  not  reach  the  straits  of  lake  de  Conty 
till  the  close  of  August.  All  seemed  to  oppose  his  under- 
taking ;  embarking  in  the  beginning  of  September,  on  Lake 
de  Conty,  he  had  been  detained  with  M.  de  la  Forrest,  his 
lieutenant  and  all  his  men,  at  Missilimakinac,  being  unable 
to  obtain  corn  for  goods  or  money ;  but  at  last,  as  it  was  ab- 
solutely necessary,  he  was  obliged,  after  three  weeks'  stay,  to 
buy  some  for  liquor,  and  in  one  day  he  got  sixty  sacks. 

He  left  there  the  4th  of  October,  and  on  the  28th  of  No- 
vember, reached  the  Myamis'  river,  where  he  left  a  ship-car- 
penter and  some  of  his  people ;  then  pushing  on,  reached  the 
Ilinois  on  the  first  of  December.  There  he  was  greatly  sur- 
prised to  find  their  great  village  burnt  and  empty.  The  rest 
of  the  time  was  spent  in  a  journey  to  the  Myamis'  river, 
where  he  went  to  join  his  men  forty  leagues  from  the  Dinois. 
Thence  he  passed  to  difi\irent  tribes,  among  others  to  an  Out- 
agarais  village,  where  he  found  some  Ilinois,  who  related  to 
him  the  unhappy  occurrences  of  the  preceding  year. 

He  learned,  moreover,  that  after  our  flight  and  departure, 
from  the  Ilinois,  their  warriors  had  returned  from  the  Na- 
douessiouz,  where  they  had  been  at  war,  and  that  there  had 
been  several  engagements  with  equal  loss  on  both  sides,  and 
that,  at  last,  of  the  seventeen  Ilinois  villages,  the  greater  part 
had  retired  beyond  the  river  Colbert,  among  the  Ozages,  two 
hundred  leagues  from  their  country,  where  too  a  part  of  the 
Iroquois  had  pursued  them.  '  f      ^ 

At  the  same  time  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  intrigued  with  the 
Outagami  chiefs,  whom  he  drew  into  his  interests  and  those 
of  the  Ilinois ;  thence  he  passed  to  the  Myamis,  whom  he  in- 
duced by  presents  and  arguments  to  leave  the  Iroquois  and 


it 


DISCOVERIES    IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


163 


join  the  Hinois ;  he  sent  two  of  his  men  and  two  Abenaquis 
to  announce  this  to  the  Hinois,  and  prevent  new  acts  of  hos- 
tility, and  to  recall  the  dispersed  tribes.    To  strengthen  both 
more,  he  sent  others  with  presents  to  the  Shawnees  to  invito 
them  to  come  and  join  the  Hinois  against  the  Iroquois,  who 
carried  their  wars  even  to  them.    All  this  had  succeeded 
when  M.  de  la  Salle  left  on  the  22d  of  May,  1681,  to  return 
to  Missiliraakinac,  where  he  expected  to  find  us.     If  we 
wish  to  settle  in  these  parta,  and  see  the  faith  make  any  prog- 
ress, it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  maintain  peace  and  union 
among  all  these  tribes,  as  well  as  among  others  more  remote, 
against  the  common  enemy,  that  is  the  Iroquois,  who  never 
makes  a  real  peace  with  any  whom  he  has  once  beaten,  or 
whom  he  hopes  to  overcome  by  the  divisions  which  he  art- 
fully excites,  so  that  we  should  be  daily  exposed  to  routs  like 
that  to  which  we  were  subjected  last  year.    M.  de  la  Salle 
convinced  of  this  necessity,  has  since  our  return,  purchased 
the  whole  Hinois  country,*  and  has  given  cantons  to  the  Shaw- 
nees, who  there  colonize  in  large  families. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle  related  to  us  all  his  hardships  and 
voyages,  as  well  as  all  his  misfortunes,  and  learned  from  us 
as  many  regarding  him ;  yet  never  did  I  remark  in  him  the 
least  alteration,  always  maintaining  his  ordinary  coolness  and 
self-possession.  Any  one  but  him  would  have  renounced  and 
abandoned  the  enterprise ;  but  far  from  that,  by  a  firmness 
of  mind,  and  an  almost  unequalled  constancy,  I  saw  him 
more  resolute  than  ever  to  continue  his  work,  and  to  carry 
out  his  discovery.  We  accordingly  left  for  Fort  Frontenac, 
with  his  whole  party  to  adopt  new  measures  to  resume  and 
complete  our  course  with  the  help  of  Heaven,  in  which  we  put 
all  our  trust. 

*  See  his  second  patent  in  the  Appendix. 


fVmm 


f^m 


^■nM 


s\ 


M;^rm 


1  I'yi 


'i  i 


Mi 


1 


I 


NARRATIVE 


hi 


Of 


LA  SALLE'S  VOYAGE  DOWN  THE  MISSISSIPPI, 

BY 

FATHER  ZENOBIVS  MEMBBi\  RECOLLECT, 


<«••' 


.((•""''x 


M 


LA  SALLE  having  arrived  safely  at  the  Miamies  on 
^  the  3d  of  November,  1681,  began  with  his  ordinary 
activity  and  vast  mind,  to  make  all  preparations  for  his  de- 
parture. He  selected  twenty-three  Frenchmen,  and  eighteen 
Mohegans  and  Abnakis,*  all  inured  to  war.    The  latter  in- 

*  The  Mohegans,  whose  name  is  generally  translated  by  old  French  writen^ 
who  call  them  "Loups,"  or  "Wolves,"  were  hereditary  enemies  of  the  Iroquois. 
They  were  known  to  the  French  as  early  as  the  time  of  Champlain,  who  calls 
them  "Mayganathicoise."  It  is  needless  here  to  follow  the  varieties  in  orthog- 
raphy which  it  underwent  The  Iroquois  called  them  "Agotsagenens"  (F.  Jogues' 
MS.).  Their  relations  with  their  European  neighbors  seem  always  to  have  been 
friendly,  and  they  never  apparently  warred  on  either  English,  Dutch,  or  French, 
although  their  position  between  the  Hudson  and  Connecticut  exposed  them  to 
frequent  occasions  of  trouble.  Though  never  really  the  allies  of  the  French,  the 
hostility  of  the  Iroquois  to  both  brought  them  in  contact,  so  that  Mohegans  fre- 
quently figure  in  small  parties  in  French  campaigns. 

The  Abnakis  were  a  people  of  Maine,  and  like  the  Mohegans  of  the  Algonquin 
family.  They  were  originally  allies  of  the  English,  who  called  them  "Taranteens," 
but  the  unwise  policy  of  the  New  England  colonies  compelled  them  to  join  the 
French.  Their  conversion  to  the  catholic  religion,  which  they  still  profess^ 
tended  still  more  to  embitter  the  colonies  against  them,  and  long  and  bloody 
wars  resulted,  in  which  the  Abnakis,  forsaken  by  the  French,  were  at  last  hum* 
bled.    They  now  form  about  five  villages  in  Maine  and  Canada. 


m 

lifi 

ill 

m 


m 


l!  !!■". 


m 


166 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  MEMBBE. 


fiisted  on  taking  along  ten  of  their  women  to  cook  for  them, 
as  their  custom  is,  while  they  were  fishing  or  hunting.  These 
women  had  three  children,  so  that  the  whole  party  consisted 
of  but  fifty-four  persons,  including  the  sieur  de  Tonty  and  the 
sieur  Dautray,  son  of  the  late  sieur  Bourdon,  procurator-gene- 
ral of  Quebec. 

On  the  2l8t  of  December,  I  embarked  with  the  sieur  de 
Tonty  and  a  part  of  our  people  on  Lake  Dauphin  (Michigan), 
to  go  toward  the  divine  river,  called  by  the  Indians  Checa- 
gou,  in  order  to  make  necessary  arrangements  for  our  voyage. 
The  sieur  de  la  Salle  joined  us  there  with  the  rest  of  his  troop 
on  the  4th  of  January,  1682,  and  found  that  Tonty  had  had 
sleighs  made  to  put  all  on  and  carry  it  over  the  Chicago 
which  was  frozen ;  for  though  the  winter  in  these  paints  is 
only  two  months  long,  it  is  notwithstanding  very  severe. 

We  had  to  make  a  portage  to  enter  the  Ilinois  river, 
which  we  found  also  frozen ;  we  made  it  on  the  27t;h  of  the 
same  month,  and  dragging  our  canoes,  baggage,  and  provis- 
ions, about  eighty  leagues  on  the  river  Seignelay  (Ilinois), 
which  runs  into  the  river  Colbert  (Mississippi),  we  traversed 
the  great  Ilinois  town  without  finding  any  one  there,  the  In- 
dians having  gone  to  winter  thirty  leagues  lower  down  on 
Lake  Pimiteoui  (Peoria),  where  Fort  Cr6vecoeur  stands.  We 
found  it  in  a  good  state,  and  La  Salle  left  his  ordei*s  here. 
As  from  this  spot  navigation  is  open  at  all  seasons,  and  free 
from  ice,  we  embarked  in  our  canoes,  and  on  the  6th  of  Feb- 
ruary, reached  the  mouth  of  the  river  Seignelay,  at  38° 
north.  The  floating  ice  on  the  river  Colbert,  at  this  place, 
kept  us  till  the  13th  of  the  same  month,  when  we  set  out,  and 
six  leagues  lower  down,  found  the  Ozage  (Missouri)  river, 
coming  from  the  west.  It  is  full  as  large  as  the  river  Colbert 
into  which  it  empties  troubling  it  so,  that  from  the  mouth  of 


DISCOVERIES   IN  TIIK   MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 


167 


the  Ozage  the  water  is  hardly  drinkahlo.  The  Indians  as- 
sure us  that  this  river  is  formed  by  many  others,  and  that 
they  ascend  it  for  ten  or  twelve  days  to  a  mountain  where  it 
rises ;  that  beyond  this  mountain  is  the  sea  where  they  see 
great  ships;  that  on  the  river  are  a  great  number  of  large 
villages,  of  many  different  nations ;  that  there  are  arable  and 
prairie-lands,  and  abundance  of  cattle  and  beaver.  Although 
this  river  is  very  large,  the  Colbert  does  not  seem  augmented 
by  it;  but  it  pours  in  so  much  mud,  that  from  its  mouth  the 
water  of  the  great  river,  whose  bed  is  also  slimy,  is  more  like 
clear  mud  than  river  water,  without  changing  at  all  till  it 
reaches  the  sea,  a  distance  of  more  than  three  hundred 
leagues,  although  it  receives  seven  large  rivers,  the  water  of 
which  is  very  beautiful,  and  which  are  almost  as  large  as  the 
Mississippi. 

On  the  14th,  six  leagues  further,  we  found  on  the  east  the 
village  of  the  Tamaroas,*  who  had  gone  to  the  chase ;  we 
left  there  marks  of  our  peaceful  coming,  and  signs  of  our 
route,  according  to  practice,  in  such  voyages.  We  went 
slowly,  because  we  were  obliged  to  hunt  and  fish  almost 
daily,  not  having  been  able  to  bring  any  provisions  but  In- 
dian corn. 

Forty  leagues  from  Tamaroa  is  the  river  Oiiabache  (Ohio), 

where  we  stopped.    From  the  mouth  of  this  river  you  must 

advance  forty-two  leagues  without    stopping,  because  the 

banks  are  low  and  marshy,  and  full  of  thick  foam,  rushes  and 

.  walnut  trees. 

On  the  24th,  those  whom  we  sent  to  hunt  all  returned  but 
Peter  Prudhomme ;  the  rest  reported  that  they  had  seen  an 

*  Tlie  Tamaroas  or  Maroas  were  an  Illinois  tribe,  who  long  had  their  village 
in  this  quarter.  After  their  conversion  to  Christianity,  they  and  the  Cahokias 
were  under  the  spiritual  guidance  of  the  priests  of  the  Seminary  of  Foreign  Mia- 
Bions.    At  this  period  no  missionary  had  reached  them.  - 


„»"•! ' 


\^|**"\i 


M 


%tii 


"^ 


108 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER   MKMURE. 


Indian  trail,  which  nmilo  us  Bii]>})ose  our  Frenchman  killed 
or  taken.  This  induced  the  siour  de  la  Salle  to  throw  up  a 
fort  and  intrenchment,  and  to  put  some  French  and  In- 
dians on  the  trail.  None  relaxed  their  efforts  till  the  firet  of 
March,  when  Gabriel  Minime  and  two  Mohegans  took  two 
of  five  Indians  whom  they  discovered.  They  said,  that  they 
belonged  to  the  Sicacha  (Chickasaw)  nation,  and  that  their 
village  was  a  day  and  a  half  off.  After  showing  them  every 
kindness,  I  set  out  with  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  and  half  our 
party  to  go  there,  in  hopes  of  learning  some  news  of  Prud- 
homme ;  but  after  having  travelled  the  distance  stated,  we 
showed  the  Indians  that  we  were  displeased  with  their  du- 
plicity ;  they  then  told  us  frankly,  that  we  were  still  three 
days  off.  (These  Indians  generally  count  ten  or  twelve 
leagues  to  a  day.)  We  returned  to  the  camp,  and  one  of  the 
Indians  having  offered  to  remain  while  the  other  carried  the 
news  to  the  village,  La  Salle  gave  him  some  goods,  and  he 
set  out  after  giving  us  to  understand  that  we  should  meet 
their  nation  on  the  bank  of  the  river  as  we  descended. 

At  last  Prudhomme,  who  had  been  lost,  was  found  on  the 
ninth  day,  and  brought  back  to  the  fort,  so  that  we  set  out 
the  next  day,  which  was  foggy.  Having  sailed  forty  leagues 
till  the  third  of  March,  we  heard  drums  beating  and  sasa- 
coiiest  (war  cries)  on  our  right.  Perceiving  that  it  was  an 
Akansa  village,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  immediately  passed 
over  to  the  other  side  with  all  his  force,  and  in  less  than  an 
hour  threw  up  a  retrenched  redoubt  on  a  point,  with  pali- 
sades, and  felled  trees  to  prevent  a  surprise,  and  give  the  In- 
dians time  to  recover  confidence.  He  then  made  some  of 
his  party  advance  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  invite  the 
Indians  to  come  to  us.  The  chiefs  sent  out  a  periagua  (these 
are  large  wooden  canoes,  made  of  a  hollow  tree  like  little 


DI8COVERIK8   IN  THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


169 


batteaiix),  which  came  within  gun-shot.  "We  offered  them 
the  cahnnot  of  peace,  and  two  Indians  advancing,  by  signs 
invited  the  French  to  come  to  them.  On  this  the  sieiir  do  la 
Salle  sent  a  Frenchman  and  two  Abnakis,  who  were  received 
and  regaled  with  matiy  tokens  of  friendship.  Six  of  the 
principal  men  brought  him  back  in  the  same  periagua,  and 
came  into  the  redoubt  where  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  made  them 
presents  of  tobacco  and  some  goods.  On  their  side  they 
gave  us  some  slaves,  and  the  most  important  chief  invited  us- 
to  go  to  the  village  to  refresh  ourselves,  which  we  readily 
did. 

All  those  of  the  village,  except  the  women,  who  had  at 
first  taken  flight,  came  to  the  bank  of  the  river  to  receive  lis. 
Here  they  built  us  cabins,  brought  us  wood  to  burn,  and  pro- 
visions in  abundance.  For  three  days  they  feasted  us  con- 
stantly ;  the  women  now  returned,  brought  us  Indian  corn, 
beans,  flour,  and  various  kinds  of  fruits ;  and  we,  in  return, 
made  them  other  little  presents,  which  they  admired  greatly. 

These  Indians  do  not  resemble  those  at  the  north,  who  are 
all  sad  and  severe  in  their  temper ;  these  are  far  better  made, 
honest,  liberal,  and  gay.  Even  the  young  are  so  modest,  that 
though  they  had  a  great  desire  to  see  La  Salle,  they  kept 
quietly  at  the  doore  not  daring  to  come  in. 

"We  saw  great  numbers  of  domestic  fowls,  flocks  of  turkeys, 
tame  bustards,  many  kinds  of  fruits,  peaches  already  formed 
on  the  trees,  although  it  was  only  the  beginning  of  March. 

On  the  14th  of  the  same  month,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  took 
possession  of  this  country  with  great  ceremony.  He  planted 
a  cross,  and  set  up  the  king's  arms,  at  which  the  Indians 
showed  a  great  joy.  You  can  talk  much  to  Indians  by  signs, 
and  those  with  us  managed  to  make  themselves  a  little  under- 
stood in  their  language.    I  took  occasion  to  explain  some- 


'ii^Mm^ 


r'"%I 


ii»«ti.:;,1 


l'*"*'illil 


1,;^'! 


%| 


170 


NARRATIVE   OF   FATHER   MEMBBE. 


thing  of  the  tnith  of  God,  nnd  the  mysteries  of  our  redemp- 
tion, of  which  thoy  saw  the  arms.  During  this  time  they 
showed  that  they  relished  what  I  said,  by  raising  their  eyes  to 
heaven,  and  kneeling  as  if  to  adore.  Wo  also  saw  them  rub 
their  hands  over  their  bodies  after  rubbing  them  over  the 
cross.  In  fact,  on  our  return  from  tlie  sea,  we  found  that 
they  had  surrounded  the  cross  with  a  palisade.  They  finally 
gave  us  provisions  and  men,  to  conduct  us,  and  serve  as  in- 
terpreters with  the  Taensa,  their  allies,  who  are  eighty  leagues 
distant  from  their  village. 

On  the  17th  wo  continued  our  route,  and  six  leagues  lower 
down  we  found  another  village  of  the  same  Aknnsa  nation, 
nnd  then  another  three  leagues  lower,  the  people  of  which 
were  of  the  same  kind,  and  received  us  most  hospitably.* 
We  gave  them  presents  and  tokens  of  our  coming  in  peace 
and  friendship. 

On  the  22d  we  reached  the  Taensa,  who  dwell  around  a 

*  Amid  the  conflict  of  nnnios  to  be  found  in  enrly  narratives,  it  is  a  relief  to 
meet  so  much  uniformity  relntivo  to  the  Akansns.  It  is  not,  indeed,  easy  to  rec- 
ognise tlieni  in  the  Qnigato,  Quipana,  Pacaha,  or  Cayos,  of  De  Soto's  expedition. 
Marquette,  in  liis  journal,  flrst  gives  the  name,  "Akamsea,"  which  lins  remained 
to  this  day  on  his  map.  lie  gives  near  them  the  Papikaha,  and  Atotchasi. 
Father  Memhre  here  mentions  three  towns  of  the  tribe,  but  does  not  name 
them.  Tonty  does,  and  has  on  the  Mississippi  the  Kappas,  and  inland  the  Toy- 
engan  or  Tongongn,  the  Toriman,  ond  the  Osotonoy  or  A88otou6.  The  latter  is, 
indeed,  his  post,  but,  old  deeds  show  a  villoge  lay  opposite,  wliich  probably 
gave  its  name.  On  the  next  expedition.  Father  Anastasius  writes  Kappa,  Do- 
ginga,  Toriman,  and  Osottooez,  which  Joutel  repeats,  changing  Doginga  to  Ton- 
gengn,  and  Osottoooz  to  Otsotehove.  In  1721,  Father  Charlevoix  writes  thera 
the  Kappas,  Toremans,  Topingos,  and  Sothouis,  adding  another  tribe,  the  Ouya- 
pes,  tliough  there  were  still  but  four  villages.  In  1729,  Father  Poisson  places 
them  all  on  the  Arkansas — the  Tourimans  nnd  Tongingas,  nine  leagues  from 
the  mouth  by  the  lower  branch,  the  Sauthouis  three  leagues  further,  and  the 
Kappas  still  higher  up. 

Tlie  only  material  difference  is  in  the  Atotchasi,  Otsotchov*^,  Osotteoez, 
Ossotonoy,  Assotou*^,  or  Sothouis,  in  which,  however,  there  is  similarity  enough 
to  establish  identity.  They  call  themselves  Ogiiapa^  and  never  use  the  term 
"Arkansas."— (iVie«a/.)  '  , 


DISCOVKRIK8   IS  THE   MISSISHIPl'I   VALLEV. 


m 


little  lako  formed  in  tlio  land  by  tlio  river  Mississippi.  They 
have  eight  villages.  The  walls  of  their  houses  are  iiiado  of 
earth  mixed  with  straw ;  the  roof  is  of  canes,  which  form  a 
dome  adorned  with  paintings ;  they  have  wooden  beds,  and 
much  other  furniture,  and  even  ornaments  in  their  temples, 
where  they  inter  the  bones  of  their  chiefs.  They  are  dressed 
in  white  blankets  made  of  the  bark  of  a  tree  which  they  spin; 
their  chief  is  absolute,  and  disposes  of  all  without  consulting 
anybody,  lie  is  attended  by  slaves,  as  are  all  his  family. 
Food  is  brought  him  outside  his  cabin ;  drink  is  given  him  in  a 
particular  cup,  with  much  neatness.  Ilis  wives  and  children 
are  similarly  treated,  and  the  other  Taensa  address  him  with 
respect  and  ceremony. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle  being  fatigued  and  unable  to  go  into 
the  town,  sent  in  the  sieur  de  Tonty  and  myself  with  presents. 
The  chief  of  this  nation  not  content  with  sending  him  provis- 
ions and  other  presents,  wished  also  to  see  him,  and  accord- 
ingly, two  houre  before  the  time  a  master  of  ceremonies  came, 
followed  by  six  men ;  he  made  them  clear  the  way  he  was  to 
pass,  prepare  a  place,  and  cover  it  with  a  delicately -worked 
cane-mat.  The  chief  who  came  some  time  after  was  dressed 
in  a  fine  white  cloth,  or  blanket.  He  was  preceded  by  two 
men,  carrying  fans  of  white  feathers.  A  third  carried  a  cop- 
per plate,  and  a  round  one  of  the  same  metal,  both  highly 
polished.  He  maintained  a  very  grave  demeanor  during  this 
visit,  which  was,  however,  full  of  confidence  and  marks  of 
friendship. 

The  whole  country  is  covered  with  palm-trees,  laurels  of 
two  kinds,  plums,  peaches,  mulberry,  apple,  and  pear  trees 
of  every  kind.  There  are  also  five  or  six  kinds  of  nut-trees, 
some  of  which  bear  nuts  of  extraordinary  size.  They  also 
gave  us  several  kinds  of  dried  fruit  to  taste ;  we  found  them 


•""■•  „i 


t  '"1 


■•^i.«r: 


172 


NARRATIVE  OF   FATHER  MEMBRE. 


large  and  good.  They  have  also  many  other  kinds  of  fruit- 
trees  which  I  never  saw  in  Europe ;  but  the  season  was  too 
early  to  allow  us  to  see  the  fruit.  We  observed  vines  already 
out  of  blossom.  The  mind  and  character  of  this  people  ap- 
peared on  the  whole  docile  and  manageable,  and  even  capa- 
ble of.  reason.  I  made  them  underatand  all  I  wished  about 
our  mysteries.  They  conceived  pretty  well  the  necessity  of 
a  God,  the  creator  and  director  of  all,  but  attribute  this  di- 
vinity  to  the  sun.  Religion  may  be  greatly  advanced  among 
them,  as  well  as  among  the  Akansas,  both  these  nations  being 
half  civilized. 

Our  guides  would  go  no  further  for  fear  of  falling  into  the 
hands  of  their  enemies,  for  the  people  on  one  shore  are  gene- 
rally enemies  of  those  on  the  other.  There  are  forty  vil- 
lages on  the  east,  and  thirty-four  on  the  west,  of  all  of  which 
we  were  told  the  names.  « 

The  26th  of  March  resuming  our  course,  we  perceived, 
twelve  leagues  lower  down,  a  periagua  or  wooden  canoe,  to 
which  the  sieur  de  Tonty  gave  chase,  till  approaching 
the  shore,  we  perceived  a  great  number  of  Indians.  The 
sieur  de  la  Salle,  with  his  usual  precaution,  turned  to  the  op- 
posite banks,  and  then  sent  the  calumet  of  peace  by  the  sieur 
de  Tonty.  Some  of  the  chief  men  crossed  the  river  to  come 
to  us  as  good  friends.  They  were  fishermen  of  the  !Nachi6 
tribe  (Natchez),  enemies  of  the  Taensa.  Although  their  vil- 
lage lay  three  leagues  inland,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  did  not 
hesitate  to  go  there  with  a  part  of  our  force.  We  slept  there, 
and  received  as  kindly  a  welcome  as  we  could  expect ;  the 
sieur  de  la  Salle,  whose  very  air,  engaging  manners,  and 
skilful  mind,  command  alike  love  and  respect,  so  impressed 
the  heart  of  these  Indians,  that  they  did  not  know  how  to 
treat  us  well  enough.    They  would  gladly  have  kept  us  with 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


178 


them ;  and  even  in  sign  of  their  esteem,  that  night  informed 
the  Koroa,*  their  ally,  whose  chief  and  head  men  came  the 
next  day  to  the  village,  where  they  paid  their  obeisance  to 
the  king  of  the  French,  in  the  person  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle, 
who  was  well  able  to  exalt  in  every  quarter  the  power  and 
glory  of  his  nation. 

After  having  planted  the  king's  arms  under  the  cross,  and 
made  presents  to  the  Nachie,  we  retunied  to  the  camp  the 
next  day  with  the  head  men  of  the  town,  and  the  Koroa 
chief,  who  accompanied  us  to  his  village,  situated  ten  leagues 
below,  on  a  beautiful  eminence,  surrounded  on  one  side  by 
fine  corn  lands,  and  on  the  other  by  beautiful  prairies.  This 
chief  presented  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  with  a  calumet,  and 
feasted  him  and  all  his  party.  "We  here,  as  elsewhere,  made 
presents  in  return.  They  told  us  that  we  had  still  ten  days 
to  sail  to  the  sea. 

The  Sicacha  (Cliickasaw)  whom  we  had  brought  thus  far, 
obtained  leave  to  remain  in  the  village,  which  we  left  on 
Easter  Sunday,  the  29th  of  March,  after  having  celebrated 
the  divine  mysteries  for  the  French,  and  fulfilled  the  duties 
of  good  Christians.  For  our  Indians,  though  of  the  most 
advanced  and  best  instructed,  were  not  yet  capable. 

About  six  leagues  below,  the  river  divides  into  two  arms, 
or  channels,  forming  a  great  island,  which  must  be  more  than 
sixty  leagues  long.  We  followed  the  channel  on  the  right) 
although  we  had  intended  to  take  the  other,  but  passed  it  in  a 
fog  without  seeing  it.  We  had  a  guide  with  us,  who  pointed 
it  out  by  signs ;  but  his  canoe  being  then  behind,  those  in  it 
neglected  when  the  Indian  told  them  to  overtake  us,  for  we 
were  considerably  ahead.    We  were  informed  that,  on  the 


*  Marquette's  map  mentions  this  tribe  as  lying  inland,  on  the  western  Bid«. 
He  writes  it  "Akoroa." 


I  r""\i 


' \, 


;;,i« 


I'.l 


'■^' 


174 


NABBATIVE   OF  FATHER  MEMBBE. 


other  channel,  there  are  ten  different  nations,  numerous,  and 
well-disposed. 

On  the  second  of  April,  after  having  sailed  forty  leagues, 
we  perceived  some  fishermen  on  the  bank  of  the  river;  they 
took  flight,  and  we  immediately  after  heard  sasacoiiest,  that 
is,  war-cries,  and  beating  of  drums.  It  was  the  Quinipissa 
nation.  Four  Frenchmen  were  sent  to  offer  them  the  calu- 
met of  peace,  with  orders  not  to  fire ;  but  they  had  to  return 
in  hot  haste,  because  the  Indians  let  fly  a  shower  of  arrows 
at  them.  Four  of  our  Mohegans,  who  went  soon  after,  met 
no  better  welcome.  This  obliged  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  to  con- 
tinue his  route,  till  two  leagues  lower  down,  we  entered  a  vil- 
lage of  the  Tangibao,*  which  had  been  recently  sacked  and 
plundered ;  we  found  there  three  cabins  full  of  human  bodies 
dead  for  fifteen  or  sixteen  days. 

At  last,  after  a  navigation  of  about  forty  leagues,  we  ar- 
rived, on  the  sixth  of  April,  at  a  point  where  the  river  divides 
into  three  channels.  The  sieur  de  la  Salle  divided  his  party 
the  next  day  into  three  bands,  to  go  and  explore  them.  Ho 
took  the  westeiTi,  the  sieur  Dautray  the  southern,  the  sieur 
Tonty,  whom  I  accompanied,  the  middle  one.  These  three 
channels  are  beautiful  and  deep.  The  water  is  brackish; 
after  advancing  two  leagues  it  became  perfectly  salt,  and 
advancing  on,  we  discovered  the  open  sea,  so  that  on  the 
ninth  of  April,  with  all  possible  solemnity,  we  performed  the 
ceremony  of  planting  the  cross  and  raising  the  arms  of 
France.  After  we  had  chanted  the  hymn  of  the  church, 
"  Vexilla  Kegis,"  and  the  "  Te  Deum,"  the  sieur  de  la  Salle, 
in  the  name  of  his  majesty,  took  possession  of  that  river,  of 
all  rivers  that  enter  it,  and  of  all  the  country  watered  by 
them.    An  authentic  act  was  drawn  up,  signed  by  all  of  us 

*  Called  in  act  of  poBseBsion,  "Maheouala." 


DISOOVEBIES   m  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


176 


there,  and  amid  a  volley  from  all  om'  muskets,  a  leaden  plate 
inscribed  with  the  arms  of  France,  and  the  names  of  those 
who  had  just  made  the  discovery,  was  deposited  in  the  earth.* 
The  sieur  de  la  Salle,  who  always  carried  an  astrolabe,  took 
the  latitude  of  the  mouth.  Although  he  kept  to  himself  the 
exact  point,  we  have  learned  that  the  ri'  .  i'  faHs  into  the  gulf 
of  Mexico,  between  27°  and  28°  north,  a^.d,  ae  is  thought,  at 
the  point  where  maps  lay  down  the  Rio  Escondido.  This 
mouth  is  about  thirty  leagues  distant  from  the  Eio  Bravo, 
(Rio  Grande),  sixty  from  the  Rio  de  Palmas,  and  ninety  or 
a  hundred  leagues  from  the  river  Panuco  (Tampico),  where 
the  nearest  Spanish  post  on  the  coast  is  situated.  We  reck- 
oned that  Espiritu  Santo  btiy  (Appalachee  Bay),  lay  north- 
east of  the  mouth.  From  the  Ilinois'  river,  we  always  went 
south  or  southwest ;  the  river  winds  a  little,  preserves  to  the 
sea  its  breadth  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  league,  is  everywhere 
very  deep,  without  banks,  or  any  obstacle  to  navigatioii,  al- 
though the  contrary  has  been  published.f  This  river  is  reckoned 
eight  hundred  leagues  long ;  we  travelled  at  least  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  Seignelay. 

We  were  out  of  provisions,  and  found  only  some  dried 
meat  at  the  mouth,  which  we  took  to  appease  our  hunger ; 
but  soon  after  perceiving  it  to  be  human  flesh,  we  left  the 
rest  to  our  Indians.  It  was  very  good  and  delicate.  At  last 
on  the  tenth  of  April,  we  began  to  remount  the  river,  living 
only  on  potatoes  and  cro'^'^diles  (alligatoi*s).  The  country  is 
BO  bordered  with  canes,  and  so  low  in  this  part,  that  we  could 
not  hunt,  without  a  long  halt.    On  the  twelfth  we  slept  at  the 

•  See  De  la  Salle's  proch  verbal  of  the  taking  possession  ■  '  Louisiana,  in  the 
Hiit.  Coll,  of  Louisiana,  vol.  i.,  p.  45. 

f  We  do  not  know  to  what  Father  Membre  refers.  Marquette's  work  makes 
no  such  assertion  of  the  Mississippi.  Hennepin,  indeed,  says  tliat  an  Illinois  had 
«o  stated  before  La  Salle  went  down. — Description  de  la  Louisiane,  p.  17Y. 


i>*« !w 

''■ \  i 


176 


NABBATIYE  OF  FATHER  MEMBBE. 


village  of  the  Tangibao,  and  as  the  Bienr  de  la  Salle  wished  to 
have  corn  willingly  or  by  force  .  . .  Our  Abnakis  perceived,  on 
the  thirteenth,  as  we  advanced,  a  great  smoke  near.  We 
thought  that  this  might  be  the  Quinipissa,  who  had  fired  on 
us  some  days  before ;  those  whom  we  sent  out  to  reconnoitre 
brought  in  four  women  of  the  nation,  on  the  morning  of  the 
fourteenth,  and  we  went  and  encamped  opposite  the  village. 
After  dinner  some  periaguas  came  toward  us,  to  brave  us ; 
but  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  having  advanced  in  person  with  the 
calumet  of  peace,  on  their  refusal  to  receive  it,  a  gun  was 
fired  which  terrified  these  savages  who  had  never  seen  fire- 
arms. They  called  it  thunder,  not  understanding  how  a 
wooden  stick  could  vomit  fire,  and  kill  people  so  far  off  with- 
out touching  them.  This  obliged  the  Indians  to  take  flight, 
although  in.  great  force,  armed  in  their  manner.  At  last  the 
sieur  de  la  Salle  followed  them  to  the  other  side,  and  put  one 
woman  on  the  shore  with  u  present  of  axes,  knives,  and 
beads,  giving  her  to  understand  that  the  other  three  should 
follow  soon,  if  she  brought  some  Indian  corn.  The  next  day 
a  troop  of  Indians  having  appeared,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle 
went  to  meet  them,  and  concluded  a  peace,  receiving  and 
giving  hostages.  He  then  encamped  near  their  village,  and 
they  brought  us  some  little  corn.  We  at  last  went  up  to  the 
village,  where  these  Indians  had  prepared  us  a  feast  in  their 
fashion.  They  had  notified  their  allies  and  neighbors,  so 
that,  when  we  went  to  enjoy  the  banquet  in  a  large  square, 
we  saw  a  confused  mass  of  armed  savages  amve  one  after 
another.  We  were,  however,  welcomed  by  the  chiefs,  but 
having  ground  for  suspicion,  each  kept  his  gun  ready,  and 
the  Indians  seeing  it,  durst  not  attack  us. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle  retired  with  all  his  people,  and  his 
hostages  into  his  camp,  and  give  up  the  Quinipissa  women. 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


177 


The  next  morning  before  daybreak,  our  sentinel  reported 
that  he  heard  a  noise  among  the  canes  on  the  banks  of  the 
river.  The  sieur  Dautray  said  that  it  was  nothing ;  but  the 
sieur  de  la  Salle,  always  on  the  alert,  having  already  heard 
noise,  called  to  arms.  As  we  instantly  heard  war-cries, 
and  arrows  were  fired  from  quite  near  us,  we  kept  up  a 
brisk  fire,  although  it  began  to  rain.  Day  broke,  and  after 
two  hours'  fighting,  and  the  loss  of  ten  men  killed  on  their 
side,  and  many  wounded,  they  took  to  flight,  without  any  of 
us  having  been  injured.  Our  people  wished  to  go  and  bum 
the  village  of  these  traitors ;  but  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  pru- 
dently wished  only  to  make  himself  formidable  to  this  nation, 
without  exasperating  it,  in  order  to  manage  them  in  time  of 
need.  "We,  however,  destroyed  many  of  their  canoes.  They 
were  near,  but  contented  themselves  with  running  away  and 
shouting.    Our  Mohegans  took  only  two  scalps. 

We  set  out  then  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  the  eighth- 
teenth  of  April,  and  arrived  on  the  first  of  May,  at  the  Korea, 
after  having  sufiered  much  from  want  of  provisions.  The 
Korea  had  been  notified  by  the  Quinipissa,  their  allies,  and 
had,  with  the  intention  of  avenging  them,  assembled  Indians 
of  several  villages,  making  a  very  numerous  army,  which  ap- 
peared on  the  shores,  and  often  approached  us  to  reconnoitre. 
As  this  nation  had  contracted  friendship  with  us  on  our 
voyage  down,  we  were  not  a  little  surprised  at  the  change ; 
but  they  told  us  the  reason,  which  obliged  us  to  keep  on  our 
guard.  The  sieur  de  la  Salle  even  advanced  intrepidly,  so 
that  the  Indians  durst  not  undertake  anything. 

"When  we  passed  going  down,  we  were  pretty  well  pro- 
vided with  Indian  corn,  and  had  put  a  quantity  in  cache.^ 
pretty  near  their  village.  We  found  it  in  good  condition ; 
and  having  taken  it  up,  continued  our  route ;  but  were  sur- 

12 


li«l::i 


""'-t's! 


II 


178 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER  MEMBRE. 


prised  to  see  the  Indian  corn  at  this  place,  which,  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  March,  was  just  sprouting  from  the  ground,  already 
fit  to  eat,  and  we  then  learned  that  it  ripened  in  fifty  days. 
We  also  remarked  other  corn  four  inches  above  ground. 

We  set  out  then  the  same  day,  the  first  of  May  in  the 
evening,  and  after  seeing  se  '^eral  diiferent  nations  on  the  fol- 
lowing days,  and  renewed  our  alliance  with  the  Taensa,  who 
received  us  perfectly  well,  we  arrived  at  the  Akansa  where 
we  were  similarly  received.  We  left  it  on  the  eighteenth,  the 
sieur  de  la  Salle  went  on  with  two  canoes  of  our  Mohegans  and 
pushed  on  to  a  hundred  leagues  below  the  river  Seignelay, 
where  he  fell  sick.  We  joined  him  there  with  the  rest  of 
the  troop  on  the  second  of  June.  As  his  malady  was  dan- 
gerous, and  brought  him  to  extremity,  unable  to  advance  any 
further,  he  was  obliged  to  send  forward  the  sieur  de  Tonty 
for  the  Ilinois  and  Miamis,  to  take  up  our  caches^  and  put 
everything  in  order,  appointing  Tonty  to  command  there. 
But  at  last  the  malady  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  which  lasted 
forty  days,  during  which  I  assisted  him  to  my  utmost,  having 
somewhat  abated,  we  started  at  the  close  of  July,  by  slow 
journeys.  At  the  end  of  September,  we  reached  the  Miami 
river,  where  we  learned  of  several  military  expeditions  made 
by  the  sieur  de  Tonty  after  he  had  left  us.  He  had  left  the 
sieur  Dautray,  and  the  sieur  Cochois  among  the  Miamis,  and 
other  people  among  the  Ilinois,  with  two  hundred  new  cabins 
of  Indians,  who  were  going  to  repeople  that  nation.  The  said 
sieur  de  Tonty  pushed  on  to  Missilimakinac,  to  render  an  ac- 
count, more  at  hand,  of  our  discovery  to  the  governor,  the 
count  de  Frontenac,  on  behalf  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  who 
prepared  to  retrace  his  steps  to  the  sea  the  next  spring  with 
a  larger  force,  and  families  to  begin  establishments. 

The  river  Seignelay  is  very  beautiful,  especially  below  the 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


179 


Ilinois  (Indians),  wide  and  deep,  forming  two  lakes  as  fai*  as 
the  sea  {juaqxCa  la  mer)^  edged  with  hills,  covered  with 
beautiful  trees  of  all  kinds,  whence  you  discern  vast  prairies 
on  which  herds  of  wild-cattle  pasture  in  confusion.  The  river 
ofken  overflows,  and  rendera  the  country  around  marshy,  for 
twenty  or  thirty  leagues  from  the  sea*  The  soil  around  is 
good,  capable  of  producing  all  that  can  be  desired  for  sub- 
sistence. We  even  found  hemp  there  growing  wild,  much 
finer  than  that  of  Canada.  The  whole  country  on  this  river 
is  charming  in  its  aspect. 

It  is  the  same  with  what  we  have  visited  on  the  river  Col- 
bert. "When  you  are  twenty  or  thirty  leagues  below  the 
Maroa,  the  banks  are  full  of  canes  until  you  reach  the  sea, 
except  in  fifteen  or  twenty  places  where  there  are  very  pretty 
hills,  and  spacious,  convenient,  landing-places.  The  inunda- 
tion does  not  extend  far,  and  behind  these  drowned  lands 
you  see  the  finest  country  in  the  world.  Our  hunters,  French 
and  Indian,  were  delighted  with  it.  For  an  extent  of  at  least 
two  hundred  leagues  in  length,  and  as  much  in  breadth,  as 
we  were  told,  there  are  vast  fields  of  excellent  land,  diversi- 
fied here  and  there  with  pleasing  hills,  lofty  woods,  groves 
through  which  you  might  ride  on  horseback,  so  clear  and 
unobstructed  are  the  paths.  These  little  forests  also  line  tte 
rivers  which  intersect  the  country  in  various  places,  and 
which  abound  in  fish.  The  crocodiles  are  dangerous  here,  so 
much  so  that  in  some  parts  no  one  would  venture  to  expose 
himself,  or  even  put  his  hand  out  of  his  canoe.  The  Indians 
told  us  that  these  animals  often  dragged  in  their  people, 
where  they  could  anywhere  get  hold  of  them. 

The  fields  are  full  of  all  kinds  of  game,  wild-cattle,  stags, 

•  I  can  not  see  what  he  means  by  the  term  sea  in  these  two  places ;  unless  in 
the  former  it  means  the  mouth,  and  in  the  latter,  the  bed  of  the  river. 


ii*''i{i;iii 


j""»'".iiiii^BW'« 


iM 


180 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER   MEMBRE. 


does,  deor,  bears,  turkeys,  partridges,  parrots,  quails,  wood- 
cock, wild-pigeons,  and  ring-doves.  Tliere  are  also  beaver, 
otters,  martens,  till  a  hundred  leagues  below  the  Maroa,  es- 
pecially in  the  river  of  the  Missouri,  the  Ouabache,  that  of  the 
Ghepousseau  (the  Cumberland?),  which  is  opposite  it,  and  on 
all  the  smaller  ones  in  this  part ;  but  we  could  not  learn  that 
there  were  any  beavers  on  this  side  toward  the  sea. 

There  are  no  wild  beasts,  formidable  to  man.  That  which 
is  called  Michybichy  never  attacks  man,  although  it  de- 
vours the  strongest  beasts ;  its  head  is  like  that  of  a  lynx, 
though  much  larger ;  the  body  long  and  large  like  a  deer's, 
but  much  more  slender ;  the  legs  also  shorter,  the  paws  like 
those  of  a  wild-cat,  but  much  larger,  with  longer  and  stronger 
claws,  which  it  uses  to  kill  the  beasts  it  would  devour.  It 
eats  a  little,  then  carries  oif  the  rest  on  its  back,  and  hides  it 
under  some  leaves,  where  ordinarily  no  other  beast  of  prey 
touches  it.  Its  skin  and  tail  resemble  those  of  a  lion,  to 
which  it  is  inferior  only  in  size. 

The  cattle  of  this  country  surpass  ours  in  size ;  their  head 
is  monstrous,  and  their  look  frightful,  on  account  of  the  long, 
black  hair  with  which  it  is  surrounded,  and  which  hangs  be- 
low the  chin,  and  along  the  houghs  of  this  animal.  It  has  on 
the  back  a  kind  of  upright  crests  (coste),  of  which  that  near- 
est the  neck  is  longest,  the  others  diminish  gradually  to  the 
middle  of  the  back.  The  hair  is  fine,  and  scarce  inferior  to 
wool.  The  Indians  wear  their  skins  which  they  dress  very 
neatly  with  earth,  which  serves  also  for  paint.  These  ani- 
mals are  easily  approached,  and  never  fly  .from  you ;  they 
could  be  easily  domesticated. 

There  is  another  little  animal  (the  opposum)  like  a  rat, 
though  as  large  as  a  cat,  with  silvery  hair  sprinkled  with 
black.    The  tail  is  bare,  as  thick  as  a  large  finger,  and  about 


DISOOVEBIES  IK  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLET. 


181 


a  foot  long ;  with  this  it  suspends  itself,  when  it  is  on  the 
hranches  of  trees.  It  has  under  the  belly  a  kind  of  pouch, 
where  it  carries  its  young  when  puraued. 

The  Indians  assured  us  that  inland,  toward  the  west,  there 
are  animals  on  which  men  ride,  and  which  carry  very  heavy 
loads,  they  described  them  as  horaes,  and  showed  us  two  feet 
which  were  actually  hoofs  of  horses. 

We  observed  everywhere  wood  of  various  kinds  fit  for 
every  use ;  and  among  others  the  most  beautiful  cedars  in  the 
world,  and  another  kind  shedding  an  abundance  of  gum,  as 
pleasant  to  burn  as  the  best  French  pastilles.  We  also  re- 
marked everywhere,  hemlocks,  and  many  other  pretty  large 
trees  with  white  bark.  The  cotton-wood  trees  are  large ;  of 
these,  the  Indians  dig  out  canoes  forty  or  fifty  feet  long,  and 
have  sometimes  fleets  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  below  their  vil- 
lages. We  saw  every  kind  of  tree  fit  for  ship-building.  There 
is  also  plenty  of  hemp  for  cordage,  and  tar  might  be  made 
remarkably  near  the  sea. 

You  meet  prairies  everywhere;  sometimes  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  leagues  front,  and  three  or  four  deep,  ready  to  receive 
the  plough.  The  soil  excellent,  capable  of  supporting  great 
colonies.  Beans  grow  wild,  and  the  stalk  lasts  several  years, 
always  bearing  fruit ;  it  is  thicker  than  an  arm,  and  runs  up 
like  ivy  to  the  top  of  the  highest  trees.  The  peach-trees  are 
quite  like  those  of  France,  and  very  good ;  they  are  so  loaded 
with  fruit,  that  the  Indians  have  to  prop  up  those  they  cul- 
tivate in  their  clearings.  There  are  whole  forests  of  very 
fine  mulberries,  of  which  we  ate  the  fruit  from  the  month 
of  May ;  many  plum-trees  and  other  fruit-trees,  some  known 
and  others  unknown  in  Europe ;  vines,  pomegranates,  and 
horse-chestnuts,  are  common.  They  raise  three  or  four  crops 
of  com  a  year.     I  have  already  stated  that  I  saw  some 


lilllllM 


182 


KABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  MEMBBE. 


ripe,  while  more  was  sprouting.  "Winter  is  known  only  by 
tbe  rains. 

"We  bad  not  time  to  look  for  mines ;  we  only  found  coal  in 
several  places ;  tbe  Indians  wbo  bad  lead  and  copper  wished 
to  lead  us  to  many  places,  whence  they  take  it ;  there  are 
quarries  of  very  fine  stone,  white  and  black  marble,  yet  tbe 
Indians  do  not  use  it. 

These  tribes,  though  savage,  seem  generally  of  very  good 
dispositions,  affable,  obliging,  and  docile.  Tbey  have  no  true 
idea  of  religion  by  a  regular  worship ;  but  we  remarked  some 
confused  ideas,  and  a  particular  veneration  they  had  for  the 
sun,  which  they  recognise  as  him  who  made  and  preserves 
all.  It  is  surprising  how  different  their  language  is  from  that 
of  tribes  not  ten  leagues  off;  they  manage,  however,  to  un- 
derstand each ;  and,  besides,  there  is  always  some  interpreter 
of  one  nation  residing  in  another,  when  they  are  allies,  and 
who  acts  as  a  kind  of  consul.  They  are  very  different  from 
our  Canada  Indians  in  their  houses,  dress,  manners,  inclina- 
tions, and  customs,  and  even  in  the  form  of  the  head,  for 
theirs  is  very  flat.  They  have  large  public  squares,  games, 
assemblies ;  they  seem  lively  and  active ;  their  chiefs  possess 
all  the  authority ;  no  one  w^ould  dare  pass  between  tlie  chiefs 
and  the  cane-torch  which  burns  in  his  cabin,  and  is  carried 
before  him  when  he  goes  out ;  all  make  a  circuit  around  it 
with  some  ceremony.  The  chiefs  have  their  valets  and  of- 
ficers, who  follow  them  and  serve  them  everywhere.  They 
distribute  their  favors  and  presents  at  will.  In  a  word,  we 
generally  found  them  to  be  men.  "We  saw  none  who  knew 
firearms,  or  even  iron  or  steel  articles,  using  stone  knives  and 
hatchets.  This  was  quite  contrary  to  what  had  been  told  us, 
when  we  were  assured  that  they  traded  with  the  Spaniards, 
who  were  said  to  be  only  twenty-five  or  thirty  leagues  off; 


1';'*'"'^  1) 


DI800VERIE8   IN  THE   MI88I8SIPri  VALLEY. 


isi 


they  had  axes,  guns,  and  all  commodities  found  in  Europe.* 
We  found,  indeed,  tribes  that  had  bracelets  of  real  pearls ; 
but  they  pierce  them  when  hot,  and  thus  spoil  them.  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Salle  brought  some  with  him.  The  Indians  told 
us  that  their  warriora  brought  them  from  very  far,  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  sea,  and  receive  them  in  exchange  from  some 
nations  apparently  on  the  Florida  side. 

There  are  many  other  things  which  our  people  observed  on 
advancing  a  little  into  the  country  to  hunt,  or  which  we 
learned  from  the  tribes,  through  whom  we  passed ;  but  I 
should  bo  tedious  were  I  to  detail  them :  and,  besides,  the 
particulara  should  bo  better  known. 

To  conclude,  our  expedition  of  discovery  was  accomplished 
without  having  lost  any  of  our  men,  French  or  Indian,  and 
without  anybody's  being  wounded,  for  which  we  were  in- 
debted to  the  protection  of  the  Almighty,  and  the  great  cap- 
pacity  of  Monsieur  de  la  Sallo.  I  will  say  nothing  here  of 
conversions ;  formerly  the  apostles  had  but  to  enter  a  coim- 
try,  when  on  the  first  publication  of  the  gospel,  great  conver- 
sions were  seen.  I  am  but  a  miserable  sinner,  infinitely  des- 
titute of  the  merits  of  the  apostles ;  but  we  must  also  acknowl- 
edge that  these  miraculous  ways  of  grace  are  not  attached  to 
the  exercise  of  our  ministry  ;  God  employs  an  ordinary  and 

*  Here  again  it  is  difficult  to  decide  whether  he  alludes  to  Marquette,  or  some 
other  account  that  may  have  been  given.  Father  Marquette  found  some  gunB 
rather  for  sliow  than  for  use  in  the  hands  of  the  first  Illinois  party,  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  which  Father  Meinbr6  did  not  visit  He  also  met  a  tribe  coming 
from  the  east  to  war  on  the  Mississippi  tribes,  also  supplied  with  firearms, 
these  Fother  Membr6  did  not  meet  As  to  the  Arkansas,  Marquette  states  that 
he  found  among  them,  knives,  axes,  and  beods,  bought  from  other  Indian  tribfrs 
on  the  east,  and  from  the  Illinois.  Speaking  of  their  trade,  he  makes  no  allu- 
sion to  the  Spaniards,  although  he  must  have  supposed  that  the  lower  tribes 
traded  with  either  Florida  or  Mexico.  It  is  somewhat  strange  that  Father 
Membre,  who  here  seems  to  make  light  of  Marquette's  fear  of  being  taken,  and 
held  a  prisoner  by  the  Spaniards,  should  have  escaped  only  by  a  bloody  death 
the  detention  to  which  the  survivors  of  Fort  St  Louis  were  subjected. 


'  mi 


IM 


NARRATTVi:  OF  FATHER  MEHBRE. 


common  woy,  following  which  I  contented  myself  with  an- 
nouncing, as  well  as  I  could,  the  principal  truths  of  Ghristi- 
anitj  to  the  nations  I  met.  The  Ilinois  language  served  me 
about  a  hundred  leagues  down  the  river,  and  I  made  the  rest 
understand  by  gestures  and  some  term  in  their  dialect  which 
I  insensibly  picked  up ;  but  I  can  not  say  that  my  little  ef- 
forts produced  certain  fruits.  With  regard  to  these  people, 
perhaps,  some  one  by  a  secret  effect  of  grace,  has  profited  ; 
Qod  only  knows.  All  we  have  done  hos  been  to  see  the  state 
of  these  tribes,  and  to  open  the  way  to  the  gospel  and  to  mis- 
sionaries; having  baptized  only  two  infants,  whom  I  saw 
struggling  with  death,  and  who,  in  fact,  died  in  our  presence. 


,r^"l 


ACCOUNT 


\mi 


0? 


LA  SALLE'S  ATTEMPT  TO  REACH  THE  MISSISSIPPI  BY  SEA, 


AND   OF    THE 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  A  FRENCH  COLONY  IN  ST.  LOUIS  BAY, 


'f*S 


wa 


FATHER  CniilSTIAN  LE  CLERGQ. 


THE  first  design  of  tbe  sieur  de  la  Salle  had  been  to  find 
the  long-sought  passage  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  and  al- 
though the  river  Colbert  (Mississippi)  does  not  lead  to  it,  yet 
this  great  man  had  so  much  talent  and  courage,  that  he  hoped 
to  find  it,  if  it  were  possible,  as  he  would  have  done,  had  God 
spared  his  life. 

.  The  Ilinois  territory,  and  vast  countries  around,  being  the 
centre  of  his  discovery,  he  spent  there  the  winter,  sujimer, 
aiKl  beginning  of  autumn,  1683,  in  establishing  his  postfi.  He 
at  last  left  Monsieur  de  Tonty,  as  command pnt  and  resolved 
to  return  to  Frtince  to  render  an  account  cf  his  fulfilment  of 
the  royal  orders.  He  reached  Quebec  early  in  Koveraber, 
and  Kochelle,  France,  on  the  twenty-third  of  December. 
His  design  was  to  go  by  sea  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Col- 


Mlllli 


'4  TU 


'31 


fir 


186 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  LE  CLERCQ. 


bert,  and  there  found  powerful  colonies  under  the  good  pleas- 
ure of  the  king.  These  proposals*  were  favorably  received 
by  Monsieur  de  Seignelay,  minister  and  secretary  of  state, 
and  superintendent  of  commerce  and  navigation  in  France. 
His  majesty  accepted  them  and  condescended  to  favor  the 
undertaking'  not  only  by  new  powers  and  commissions,  which 
he  conferred  upon  him,  but  also  by  the  help  of  vessels,  troops, 
and  money,  which  his  royal  liberality  furnished  him. 

The  first  care  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  after  being  invested 
with  these  powers,  was  to  provide  for  the  spiritual^  to 
advance  especially  the  glory  of  God  in  this  enterprise.  He 
turned  to  two  different  bodies  of  missionaries,  in  order  to  ob- 
tain men  able  to  labor  in  the  salvation  of  souls,  and  lay  the 
foundations  of  Christianity  in  this  sa<^age  land.  He  accord- 
ingly applied  to  Monsieur  Tron§on,  superior-general  of  the 
clergymen  of  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  who  willingly  took 
part  in  the  work  of  God,  and  appointed  three  of  his  ecclesi- 
astics full  of  zeal,  virtue,  and  capacity,  to  commence  these 
new  missions.  They  were  Monsieur  Cavelier,  brother  of  the 
sieur  de  la  Salle,  Monsieuv  Chefdeville,  his  relative,  and  Mon- 
sieur de  Maiulle,f  all  three  priests. 

As  for  nearly  ten  years  the  Eecollects  had  endeavored  to 
second  the  designs  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  for  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  sanctification  of  souls  throughout  the  vast  coun- 
tries of  Louisiana,  depending  on  him  from  Fort  Frontenac, 
and  had  accompanied  him  on  his  expeditions,  in  which  our 
Father  Gabriel  was  killed,  he  made  it  an  essential  point  to 
take  some  one  of  our  fathers  to  labor  in  concert  to  establish 
the  kingdom  of  God  in  these  new  countries.  For  this  pur- 
ix)se,  he  applied  to  the  Eev.  Father  Hyacinth  le  Febvre,  who 

*  See  M.  de  la  Salle's  Memoir  in  Ilht.  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  i.,  p.  26. 
f  Called  by  Joutel  Dainmaville.    See  Hist.  Coll,  of  Louisiana,  vol  i.,  p. 


DISCOVERIES   m  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


im 


had  been  twice  provincial  of  our  province  of  St.  Anthony,  in 
Ai'tois,  and  was  then,  for  the  second  time,  provincial  of  that 
of  St.  Denis  in  France,  who,  wishing  to  second  with  all  hia 
power  the  pious  intentions  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  granted 
him    the    religious    he    asked :    namely.  Father    Zenobius 
Membro  superior  of  the  mission,  and  Fathers  Maximus  Le 
Clercq  and  Anastasius  Douay,  all  three  of  our  province  of 
St.  Anthony,  the  firet  having  been  for  four  yeara  the  insepar^ 
able  companion  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  during  his  discovery 
on  land ;  tlie  second  had  served  for  five  years  with  great  edi- 
fication in  Canada,  especially  in  the  mission  of  the  seven 
islands,  and  Anticosti.    Father  Dennis  Morguet  was  added 
as  a  fourth  priest;  but  that  religious  finding  himself  extreme- 
ly sick  on  the  third  day  after  embarking,  he  was  obliged  to 
give  up  and  return  to  his  province. 

The  reverend  father  provincial  had  informed  the  Congrega- 
tion de  propaganda  fide,  of  this  mission,  to  obtain  necessary  au- 
thority for  the  exercise  of  our  ministry ;  he  received  decrees 
in  due  form,  which  we  will  place  at  the  end  of  the  chapter, 
not  to  interrupt  the  reader's  attention  here.  His  holiness 
Innocent  XI.,  added  by  an  express  brief,  authentic  powers, 
and  permissions  in  twenty-six  articles,  as  the  holy  see  is  ac- 
customed to  grant  to  missionaries  whose  remoteness  makes  it 
morally  impossible  to  recur  to  the  authority  of  the  ordinary. 
It  was  granted  against  the  opposition  of  the  bishop  of  Quebec, 
Cardinal  d'Estr^es  having  shown  that  the  distance  from  Que- 
bec to  the  mouth  of  the  river  was  more  than  eight  or  nine 
hundred  leagues  by  land.* 

The  hopes  that  were  then  justly  founded  on  this  famous  ex- 
pedition, induced  mi.ny  young  gentlemen  to  join  the  sieur  de 

*  Similor  opposition  compelled  the  first  Jesuits  in  Louisiana  to  leave  soon 
after  their  arrival  with  Iberville. 


j:i;i;; 


|l«i„i;.lj* 


)m] 


'*ii 


"mm, 


w 


t^:^j    ^ 


f88 


ITABBATIYE   OF  FATHEl     LE  CLEBCQ. 


la  Salle  as  volunteers ;  he  chose  twelve  who  seemed  most 
resolute ;  among  them,  the  sieur  de  Morange,  and  the  sieur 
Cavelier,  his  nephews,  the  latter  only  fourteen  years  of  age. 

The  little  fleet  was  fitted  out  at  Rochelle,  to  be  composed 
of  four  vessels — the  Joly,  a  royal  ship,  a  frigate  called  the 
Belle,  a  storeship  called  the  Aimable,  and  a  ketch  called  the 
St.  Francis.  The  royal  vessel  was  commanded  by  Captain 
de  Beaujeu,  a  Norman  gentleman  known  for  valor  and  expe- 
rience, and  his  meritorious  services ;  his  lieutenant  was  M.  le 
chevalier  d'Aire,  now  captain  in  the  navy,  and  son  of  the 
dean  of  the  parliament  of  Metz.  The  sieur  de  Ilamel,  a 
young  gentleman  of  Brouage,  full  of  fire  and  courage,  was 
ensign.  Would  to  God  the  troops  and  the  rest  of  the  crew 
had  been  as  well  chosen !  Those  who  were  appointed,  while 
M.  de  la  Salle  was  at  Paris,  picked  up  a  hundred  and  fifty 
soldiers,  mere  wretched  beggars  soliciting  alms,  many  too  de- 
formed and  unable  to  fire  a  musket.  The  sieur  de  la  Salle 
had  also  given  orders  at  Kochelle  to  engage  three  or  four 
mechanics  in  each  trade ;  the  selection  was,  however,  so  bad, 
that  when  they  came  to  the  destination,  and  they  were  set  to 
work,  it  was  seen  that  they  knew  nothing  at  all.  Eight  or 
ten  families  of  very  good  people  presented  themselves,  and 
offered  to  go  and  begin  the  colonies.  Their  offer  was  ac- 
cepted, and  great  advances  made  to  them  as  well  as  to  the 
artisans  and  soldiers. 

All  being  ready,  they  sailed  on  the  24th  of  July,  1684.  A 
storm  which  came  on  a  few  days  later,  obliged  them  to  put 
in  at  Chef-de-Bois  to  repair  one  of  their  masts  broken  in  the 
gale.  Tliey  set  sail  again  on  the  1st  of  August,  steering  for 
Si.  Domingo ;  but  a  second  storm  overtook  them,  and  dis- 
persed them  on  the  fourteenth  of  September,  the  Aimable 
and  the  Belle  alone  remaining  together,  reached  Petit  Goavo 


.""Ml"  1, 


DISOOYEBIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


189 


in  St.  Domingo,  where  they  fortunately  found  the  Joly.  The 
St.  Francis  being  loaded  with  goods  and  effects,  and  unable 
to  follow  the  others,  had  put  in  at  Port  de  Paix,  whence  she 
sailed  after  the  storm  was  over  to  join  the  fleet  at  the  rendez- 
vous ;  but  as  during  the  night,  while  quite  calm,  the  captain 
and  crew  thinking  themselves  in  safety,  were  perfectly  off 
their  guard,  they  were  surprised  by  two  Spanish  periaguas, 
which  took  the  ketch. 

This  was  the  firet  mishap  which  befell  the  voyage ;  a  dis- 
aster which  caused  universal  consternation  in  the  party,  and 
much  grief  to  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  who  was  just  recovering 
from  a  dangerous  malady,  which  had  brought  him  to  the  verge 
of  the  grave.  They  stayed,  indeed,  some  time  at  St.  Do- 
mingo, where  they  laid  in  provisions,  a  store  of  Indian  corn, 
and  of  all  kinds  of  domestic  animals  to  stock  the  new  coun- 
try. M.  de  St.  Laui'ent,  governor-general  of  the  Isles,  Begon, 
intendant,  and  dc  Cussy,  governor  of  St.  Domingo,  favored 
them  in  every  way,  and  even  restored  the  reciprocal  under- 
standing so  necessary  to  succeed  in  such  undertakings  ;  but 
the  Idiers,  and  most  of  the  crew,  having  plunged  into  every 
kind  of  debauchery  and  intemperance,  so  common  in  those 
parts,  were  so  ruined  and  contracted  such  dangerous  disor- 
ders that  some  died  in  the  island,  and  others  never  recovered. 

The  little  fleet  thus  reduced  to  three  vessels,  weighed  an- 
chor November  25tli,  1684,  and  pursued  its  way  quite  suc- 
cess fully  along  the  Cayman  isles,  and  passing  by  the  Isle  of 
Peace  (pines),  after  anchoring  there  a  day  to  take  in  water, 
reached  Port  San  Antonio,  on  the  island  of  Cuba,  where  the 
three  ships  immediately  anchored.  The  beauty  and  allure- 
ment of  the  spot,  and  its  advantageous  position,  induced  them 
to  stay  and  even  land.  For  some  unknown  reason  the  Span- 
iards had  abandoned  their  several  kinds  of  provisions,  and 


llr'lltM 


Silll'rv 


NABKATIVE  OF  FATHER  LB  CLEROQ. 


among  the  rest  some  Spanish  wine,  which  they  took,  and 
after  two  days'  repose,  left  to  continue  the  voyage  to  the  gulf 
of  Mexico. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle,  although  very  clear-headed,  and  not 
easily  mislead,  had,  however,  too  easily  believed  the  advice 
given  him  by  some  persons  in  St.  Domingo ;  he  discovered, 
too  late,  that  all  the  sailing  directions  given  him  were  absolute- 
ly false ;  the  fear  of  being  injured  by  northerly  winds,  said 
to  be  very  frequent  and  dangerous  at  the  entrance  of  the  gulf, 
made  them  twice  lie  to,  but  the  discernment  and  courage  of 
the  sieur  de  la  Salle  made  them  try  the  passage  a  third  time, 
and  they  entered  happily  on  the  Ist  of  January,  1685,  when 
Father  Anastasius  celebrated  a  solemn  mass  as  a  thanksgiv- 
ing, after  whi-jh,  continuing  the  route,  they  arrived  in  fifteen 
days  in  sight  of  the  coast  of  Florida,  when  a  violent  wind 
forced  the  Joly  to  stand  off,  the  store-ship  and  frigate  coasting 
along,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  being  anxious  to  follow  the  shore. 

He  had  been  persuaded  at  St.  Domingo,  that  the  gulf- 
stream  ran  with  incredible  i-apidity  toward  the  Bahama  chan- 
nel. This  false  advice  set  hirn  entirely  astray,  for  thinking 
himself  much  further  north  than  he  was,  he  not  only  passed 
Espiritu  Santo  bay  (Appalachee)  without  recognising  it,  but 
even  followed  the  coast  far  beyond  the  river  Colbert,  and 
would  even  have  continued  to  follow  it,  had  they  not  per- 
ceived by  its  turning  soutli,  and  by  the  latitude,  that  they 
•were  more  than  forty  or  fifty  leagues  from  the  mouth,  the 
more  so,  as  the  river,  before  emptying  into  the  gulf,  coasts 
along  the  shore  of  the  gulf  to  the  west,  and  as  longitude  is 
unknown  to  pilots,  it  proved  that  he  had  greatly  passed  his 
parallel  lines. 

The  vessels  at  last,  in  the  middle  of  February,  mot  at 
Espiritu  Santo  bay,  where  there  was  an  almost  continual 


iit^RI 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


101 


roadstead.  They  resolved  to  return  whence  they  came,  and 
advanced  ten  or  twelve  leagues  to  a  hay  which  they  called 
St.  Louis  bay  (St.  Bernard).  As  provisions  began  to  fail,  the 
soldiers  had  already  landed,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  explored 
and  sounded  the  bay  which  is  a  league  broad,  with  a  good 
bottom.  He  thought  that  it  might  be  the  right  arm  of 
the  river  Colbert.  He  brought  the  frigate  in  without  acci- 
dent on  the  eighteenth  of  February ;  the  channel  is  deep,  so 
deep  in  fact,  that  even  on  the  sand  bar,  which  in  a  manner 
bars  the  entrance,  there  are  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  of  water  at 
low  tide. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle  having  ordered  the  captain  of  the 
store-ship  not  to  enter  without  the  pilot  of  the  frigate,  in 
whom  he  put  all  confidence,  to  unload  his  cannon  and 
water  into  the  boats  to  ligliten  his  cargo,  and  lastly,  to  follow 
exactly  the  channel  staked  out ;  none  of  his  orders  were  exe- 
cuted, and  the  faithless  man,  in  spite  of  the  advice  given 
him  by  a  sailor  who  was  at  the  main-top,  to  keep  off",  drove 
his  vessel  on  the  shoals  where  he  touched  and  stranded,  so 
that  it  was  impossible  to  get  ofi'. 

La  Salle  was  on  the  seashore  when  he  saw  this  deplorable 
maneuvre,  and  was  embarking  to  remedy  it,  when  he  saw  a 
hundred  or  a  hundred  and  twenty  Indians  come ;  he  had  to 
put  all  under  arms,  the  roll  of  the  drum  put  the  savages  to 
flight;  he  followed  them,  presented  the  calumet  of  peace,  and 
conducted  them  to  their  camp,  regaled  them,  and  even  made 
them  presents ;  and  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  gained  them  so  that 
an  alliance  was  made  with  them ;  they  brought  meat  to  the 
camp  the  following  days  ;  he  bought  some  of  their  canoes, 
and  there  was  every  reason  to  expect  much  from  this  neces- 
sary union. 

Misfortune  would  have  it  that  a  bale  of  blanketing  from 


\0M 


■Mm 


mil 


ii'  "1 


-r' 


•""*'"!'V:^;J; 


l;l.|., 


if-hl 


ilit  |i  III! 


192 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MEMBRE. 


the  Wi'eck*  was  thrown  on  shore ;  some  days  after  a  party 
of  Indians  seized  it,  the  rHeur  de  la  Salle  ordered  his  men  to 
get  it  out  of  their  hands  peaceably ;  they  did  just  the  con- 
trary ;  the  commander  presented  his  musket  as  if  about  to 
fire ;  this  so  alarmed  them,  that  they  regarded  us  only  as 
enemies.  Provoked  to  fury  they  assembled  on  the  night 
of  the  6th  and  7th  of  March,  and  finding  the  sentinel 
asleep,  poured  in  a  destructive  volley  of  arrows.  Our  men 
ran  to  arms,  the  noise  of  musketry  put  them  to  flight,  after 
they  had  killed  on  the  spot  the  sieurs  Oris  and  Desloge,  two 
cadets  volunteers,  and  dangerously  wounded  the  sieur  de 
Moranger,  lieutenant  and  nephew  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  and 
the  sieur  Gaien,  a  volunteer.  The  next  day  they  killed  two 
more  of  our  men,  whom  they  found  sleeping  on  the  shore. 

Meanwhile,  the  store-ship  remained  more  than  three  weeks 
at  the  place  of  its  witck,  without  going  to  pieces,  but  full  of 
water ;  they  saved  all  they  could  in  periaguas  and  boats, 
when  a  calm  allowed  them  to  reach  it.  One  day  Father  Ze- 
nobius  having  passe i  in  a  boat,  it  was  dashed  to  pieces  against 
the  vessel  by  a  sudden  gust  of  wind.  All  quickly  got  on 
board,  but  the  good  father  who  remained  last  to  save  the  rest, 
would  have  been  drowned  had  not  a  sailor  thrown  him  a 
rope,  with  which  he  drew  himself  up  as  he  was  sinking. 

At  last  Monsieur  de  Beaujeu  sailed  in  the  Joly  with  all 
his  party  on  the  twelfth  of  March,  to  return  to  France,*  and 
the  sieur  de  la  Salle  having  thrown  up  a  house  with  planks 
and  pieces  of  timber  to  put  his  men  and  goods  in  safety,  left 
a  hundred  men  under  the  command  of  the  sieur  de  Moranger, 


•  Le  Clercq  it  will  be  observed,  is  silent  as  to  the  misunderstanding  between 
La  Salle  and  Beanjeu,  which  is  mentioned  by  others,  and  borne  out  by  letters  of 
the  latter.  To  him  must  in  no  small  degree  be  ascribed  the  failure  of  La  Salle's 
attempt.  For  the  detail  of  their  disagreement  see  Sparks's  excellent  life  of  La 
Balle,  and  Joutel's  journal  in  Historical  Collection  of  Louisiana. 


DISCOVERIES    IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


193 


and  set  out  with  fifty  others ;  the  sieur  Cavelier  and  fathera 
Zenobius  and  Maximus  intending  to  seek  at  the  extremity  of 
the  bay,  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  a  proper  place  to  fix  bis 
colony. 

The  captain  of  the  frigate  had  orders  to  sound  the  bay  in 
boats,  and  to  bring  his  vessel  in  as  far  as  he  could ;  he  fol- 
lowed twelve  leagues  along  the  coast,  which  runs  from  south- 
east to  northwest,  and  anchored  opposite  a  point  to  which  the 
sieur  Hurler  gave  his  name ;  he  was  appointed  commander 
there ;  this  post  serving  as  a  station  between  the  naval  camp, 
and  the  one  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  went,  on  the  second  of  April, 
to  form  at  the  extremity  of  the  bay,  two  leagues  up  a  beauti- 
ful river  called  Cow  river,  from  the  great  number  of  those 
wild  animals,  they  found  there.  Our  people  were  attacked 
there  by  a  party  of  Indians,  but  repulsed  them. 

On  the  twenty-first,  holy  Saturday,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle 
came  to  the  naval  camp,  where  the  next  day  and  the  thu.e 
following,  those  great  festivals  were  celebrated  with  all  por.si- 
ble  solemnity,  each  one  receiving  his  Creator.  The  follow- 
ing days  all  the  effects,  and  generally  all  that  could  be  of 
service  to  tl  e  (jamp  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  were  transferred 
from  those  of  the  sieurs  de  Morangcr  and  Hurler,  which 
were  destroyed.  For  a  month  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  made 
them  work  in  cultivating  the  gi-ound  ;  but  neither  the  grain 
nor  the  vegetables  sprouted,  either  because  they  were  dam- 
aged by  the  salt  water,  or  because,  as  was  afterward  re- 
marked, it  was  not  the  right  season.  The  fort  which  was 
built  in  an  advantageous  position,  was  soon  in  a  state  of  de- 
fence, furnished  with  twelve  pieces  of  cannon,  and  a  maga- 
zine under  ground,  for  fear  of  fire,  in  which  all  the  efiects  were 
safely  deposited.  The  maladies  which  the  soldiere  had  con- 
tracted at  St.  Domingo,  were  ^  islbly  carrying  them  off,  and 

•  m 


lii'»:,; 


ll««"li||i!,l,1';J;i(| 


ilriiiiiii  'i'Hi 


'IM 


194 


NARRATIVE   OF   FATHER  LE   CLERCQ. 


a  hundred  died  in  a  few  days,  notwithstanding  all  the  relief 
aiforded  by  broths,  preserves,  treacle,  and  wine,  which  were 
given  tbem. 

On  the  9th  of  August,  1685,  three  of  our  Frenchmen  being 
at  the  chase  which  is  plentiful  in  these  parts,  in  all  kinds  of 
game  and  deer,  were  suiTounded  by  several  troops  of  armed 
savages,  but  our  men  putting  themselves  on  the  defensive, 
first  killed  the  chief  and  scalped  him;  this  spectacle  terrified 
and  scattered  the  enemy,  who  nevertheless,  some  time  after, 
surprised  and  killed  one  of  our  Frenchmen. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  October,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  seeing 
himself  constantly  insulted  by  the  savages,  and  wishing, 
moreover,  to  have  some  of  their  canoes  by  force  or  consent, 
as  he  could  not  do  without  them,  resolved  to  make  open  war 
on  them  in  order  to  bring  them  to  an  advantageous  peace. 

He  set  out  with  sixty  men  armed  with  wooden  corslets  to 
protect  them  against  arrows,  and  arrived  where  they  had 
gathered ;  in  different  engagements  by  day  and  night,  he 
put  some  to  flight,  wounded  several,  killed  some ;  others  were 
taken,  among  the  rest  some  children,  one  of  whom  a  girl 
three  or  four  years  old  was  baptized  and  died  some  days 
after,  as  the  first  fruits  of  this  mission,  and  a  sure  conquest 
sent  to  heaven.  The  colonists  now  built  houses,  and  formed 
fields  by  clearing  the  ground,  the  grain  sowed  succeeding 
better  than  the  first.  They  crossed  to  the  other  side  of  the 
bay  in  canoes,  and  found  on  a  large  river  a  plentiful  chase, 
especially  of  cattle  and  turkeys.  In  the  fort  they  raised  all 
kinds  of  domestic  animals,  cows,  hogs,  and  poultry,  which 
multiplied  greatly.  Laetlj'^,  the  execution  done  among  the 
Indians  had  rendered  the  little  colony  somewhat  more  se- 
cure, when  a  new  misfortune  succeeded  all  the  preceding. 

The  sieur  de  la  Salle  had  ordered  the  captain  of  the  frigate 


DISCOVERIES   IN   THE  MISSISSirPI  VALLEY. 


195 


to  Bound  the  bay  carefully  as  he  advanced,  and  to  recall  all 
his  men  on  board  at  nightfall ;  but  this  captain  and  six 
of  his  strongest,  stoutest,  and  ablest  men,  charmed  with  the 
agreeableness  of  the  season,  and  the  beauty  of  the  country, 
left  their  canoe  and  arms  on  the  sand  at  low-water,  and  ad- 
vanced a  gun  shot  on  the  plain  to  be  dry ;  here  they  fell 
asleep,  and  an  Indian  party  espying  them,  surprised  them, 
aided  by  their  sleep  and  the  darkness,  massacred  them 
cruelly,  and  destroyed  their  arms  and  canoe.  This  tragical 
adventure  produced  the  greatest  consternation  in  the  camp. 

After  rendering  the  last  honors  to  the  murdered  men,  the 

sieur  tie  la  Salle  leaving  provisions  for  b'x  months,  set  out 

with  twenty  men  and  his  brother,  the  sieur  Cavelier,  to  seek 

the  mouth  A  the  river  (Mississippi)  by  land.    The  bay  which 

he  discovered  to  be  in  latitude  27°  45'  N.,  is  the  outlet  of  a 

great  number  of  rivere,  none  of  which,  however,  seemed  large 

enough  to  be  an  arm  of  the  river  Colbert.    The  sieur  de  la 

Salle  explored  them  in  hope  that  a  part  of  these  rivere  was 

formed  further  up  by  one  of  the  branches  of  the  said  river ; 

or,  at  least,  that  by  traversing  the  country  to  some  distance, 

he  would  make  out  the  course  of  the  Missisipi.    He  waa 

longer  absent  than  he  had   expected,  being  compelled  to 

make  rafts  to  cross  the  rivers,  and  to  intrench  himself  every 

night  to  protect  himself  against  attacks.    The  continual  rains, 

too,  formed  ravines,  and  destroyed  the  roads.    At  last,  on 

the  13th  of  February,  1686,  he  thought  that  he  had  found 

the  river ;  he  fortified  himself  there,  left  a  part  of  his  men, 

and  with  nine  others  continued  to  explore  a  most  beautiful 

country,  traversing  a  number  of  villages  and  nations,  who 

treated  him  very  kindly;  at  last, returning  to  find  his  people, 

he  arrived  at  the  general  camp,  on  the  Slst  of  May,  charmed 

with  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  fields,  the  incredible 


.;:  'V«< 


,i»iiiih 


•1!:,l! 


\im 


196 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  LE  OLEROQ. 


quantity  of  game  of  every  kind,  and  the  numerous  tribes  he 
had  met  on  the  way. 

The  Ahnighty  was  prepaving  him  a  still  more  sensible  trial 
than  the  preceding,  in  the  loss  of  the  friga  e,  his  only  re- 
maining vessel  in  which  he  lioped  to  coast  along,  and  then 
pass  to  St.  Domingo,  to  send  news  to  France,  and  obtain 
new  succor.  This  sad  accident  happened  from  want  of  pre- 
caution on  the  part  of  the  pilot.  All  the  goods  were  lost  irre- 
coverably ;  the  vessel  struck  on  the  shore,  the  sailors  wore 
drowned ;  the  sieur  de  Chefdeville,  the  captain,  and  four 
others,  with  difficulty,  escaped  in  a  canoe  which  they  found 
almost  miraculously  on  the  shore.  They  lost  thirty-six  bar- 
rels of  flour,  a  quantity  of  wine,  the  trunks,  clothes,  linen, 
equipage,  and  most  of  the  tools.  We  leave  the  reader  to  im- 
agine the  grief  and  affliction  felt  by  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  at 
an  accident  which  completely  ruined  all  his  measures.  His 
great  courage  even  could  not  have  borne  him  up,  had  not 
God  aided  his  virtue  by  the  help  of  extraordinary  grace. 

All  these  measures  being  thus  disconcerted,  and  his  afiaira 
thought  to  extremes,  he  resolved  to  try  to  reach  Canada  by 
land ;  he  returned  some  time  after,  and  undertook  a  second 
in  which  he  lost  his  life  by  the  cruelty  of  his  men,  some  of 
whom  remaining  faithful,  continued  their  route  and  reached 
France,  among  the  rest  Father  Anastasius  Douay.  Although 
the  detail  of  his  remarks  was  lost  in  his  many  wrecks,  the 
following  is  an  abridgment  of  what  he  could  gather  from 
them,  with  which,  perhaps,  the  reader  will  be  better  pleased 
than  if  I  gave  it  in  my  own  style. 


,1 \] 


NARRATIVE 


OF 


'II  iii!i|jif  I  m 
""'ir'" 


flifi 


'•- . 


LA  SALLE'S  ATTEMPT  TO  ASCEND  THE  MISSISSIPPI  IN  1687, 


BY 


"■* 


FATHER  ANASTASIU8  DO UA  F,  RECOLLECT.'^ 


THE  sieur  de  la  Salle  seeing  no  other  resource  for  his  af- 
fairs, but  to  go  by  land  to  the  Ilinois,  to  be  able  to  give 
in  France,  tidings  of  his  disasters,  chose  twenty  of  his  best 
men,  including  Nika,  one  of  our  Shawnee  Indians,  who  had 
constantly  attended  him  from  Canada  to  France,  and  from 
France  to  Mexico ;  Monsieur  Cavelier,  the  sieur  de  Moranget 
and  I  also  joined  them  for  this  great  journey,  for  which  we 
made  no  preparation  but  four  pounds  of  powder,  and  four  of 
lead,  two  axes,  two  dozen  knives,  as  many  awls,  some  beads, 
and  two  kettles.    After  celebrating  the  divine  mysteries  in 


*  Of  Father  Annstosius  Douay  we  know  little ;  Hennepin  makes  him  a  native 
of  Quesnoy,  in  Hainault  He  had  never  been  in  America  before,  but  after  being 
connected  with  La  Salle's  expedition,  from  1684  to  1C88,  he  reached  France,  as 
wo  shall  see,  in  safety.  He  was,  says  Hennepin,  vicar  of  the  Recollects  of  Cam- 
bray,  in  1697.  Certain  it  is  that  he  subsequently  revisited  America  in  1699,  with 
Iberville,  but  we  can  trace  him  no  further.  A  man  of  observation  and  ability, 
he  seems  to  have  been  quite  sweeping  in  his  charges,  as  we  shall  observe  in  the 
course  of  his  narrative.  The  only  point  against  him  besides  this,  which  was  an 
excess  of  party  feeling,  was  his  share  in  the  deception  practised  on  Tonty. 


n  ' 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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198 


NABBATIYE  OF  FATHEB  DOUAT. 


the  chapel  of  the  fort,  and  invoking  together  the  help  of 
Heaven,  we  set  out  on  the  22d  of  April,  1686,  in  a  north- 
easterly direction. 

On  the  third  day  we  perceived  in  some  of  the  finest  plains 
in  the  world  a  number  of  people,  some  on  foot,  others  on 
horseback ;  these  came  galloping  toward  us,  booted  and  spur- 
red, and  seated  on  saddles.  They  invited  us  to  their  town, 
but  as  they  were  six  leagues  to  the  northwest,  out  of  our 
route,  we  thanked  them,  after  learning  in  converaation,  that 
they  had  intercourse  with  the  Spaniards.  Continuing  our 
march  the  rest  of  the  day,  we  cabined  at  night  in  a  little  in- 
trenched stockade  fort,  to  be  beyond  reach  of  insult ;  this  we 
always  tfter  practised  with  good  results. 

Setting  out  the  next  morning,  we  marched  for  two  days 
through  continual  prairies  to  the  river  which  we  called  Eo- 
bek,  meeting  everywhere  so  prodigious  a  quantity  of  Cibola, 
or  wild  cattle,  that  the  smallest  herds  seemed  to  us  to  con- 
tain two  or  three  hundred.  We  killed  nine  or  ten  in  a  mo- 
ment, and  dried  a  part  of  the  meat  so  as  not  to  have  to  stop 
for  five  or  six  days.  A  league  and  a  half  further  we  met  an- 
other and  finer  river,  wider  and  deeper  than  the  Seine  at 
Paris,  skirted  by  some  of  the  finest  trees  in  the  world,  set  as 
regularly  as  though  they  had  been  planted  by  man.  Among 
them  were  many  mulberry  and  other  fruit  trees.  On  one 
side  were  prairies,  on  the  other  woods.  We  passed  it  on 
rafts,  and  called  it  La  Maligne. 

Passing  through  this  beautiful  country,  its  delightful  fields, 
and  prairies  skirted  with  vines,  fruit-trees,  and  groves,  we, 
a  few  days  after,  reached  a  river  which  we  called  Hiens, 
after  a  German  from  Wittemburg,  who  got  so  fast  in  tho  mud 
that  he  could  scarcely  get  but.  One  of  our  men,  with  an  axe 
on  his  back,  swam  over  to  the  other  side,  a  second  followed 


DISOOVEBIES  m  THS  MISSISSIPPI  YALLET. 


199 


at  once ;  they  then  cut  down  the  largest  trees,  while  others  on 
onr  side  did  the  same.  These  trees  were  cut  so  as  to  fall  on 
each  side  into  the  river,  where  meeting,  they  formed  a  kind 
of  bridge  on  which  we  easily  passed.  This  invention  we  had 
recourse  to  more  than  thirty  times  in  our  journeys,  finding  it 
surer  than  the  Cajeu,  which  is  a  kind  of  raft  formed  of  many 
pieces,  and  branches  tied  together,  on  which  we  passed  over, 
guiding  it  by  a  pole. 

Here  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  changed  his  route  from  northeast 
to  east,  for  reasons  which  he  did  not  tell  us,  and  which  we 
could  never  discover. 

After  several  days'  march,  in  a  pretty  fine  country,  crossing 
ravines  on  rafts,  we  entered  a  much  more  agreeable  and  per- 
fectly delightful  territory,  where  we  found  a  very  numerous 
tribe  who  received  us  with  all  possible  friendship,  even  the 
women  coming  to  embrace  our  men.  They  made  us  sit 
down  on  well-made  mats,  at  the  upper  end,  near  the  chiefs, 
who  presented  us  the  calumet  adorned  with  feathers  of  every 
hue,  which  we  had  to  smoke  in  turn.  They  served  up  to  us 
among  other  things  a  sagamity,  made  of  a  kind  of  root  called 
Toqu6,  or  Toquo.  It  is  a  shrub,  like  a  kind  of  bramble  with- 
out thorns,  and  has  a  veiy  large  root,  which  they  wash  and 
dry  perfectly,  after  which  it  is  pounded  and  reduced  to  pow- 
der in  a  mortar.  The  sagamity  has  a  good  taste,  though 
astringent.  These  Indians  presented  us  with  some  cattle- 
skins,  very  neatly  dressed,  to  make  shoes ;  we  gave  them  in 
exchange  beads,  which  they  esteem  highly.  During  our  stay 
the  sieur  de  la  Salle  so  won  them  by  his  manners,  and  insinu- 
ated 80  much  of  the  glory  of  our  king,  telling  them  that  he 
was  greater  and  higher  than  the  sun,  that  they  were  all  rav- 
ished with  astonishment. 

The  sienr  Cavelier  and  I  endeavored  here,  as  everywhere 


200 


NABBATITE  OF  FATHEB  DOUAT. 


else,  to  give  them  some  first  knowledge  of  the  trne  God.  This 
nation  is  call  Biskatrong^,  but  we  called  them  the  nation  of 
weepers,*  and  gave  their  beautiful  river  the  same  name,  be- 
cause at  our  arrival  and  entrance,  they  all  began  to  weep  bit- 
terly for  a  good  quarter  of  an  hour.  It  is  their  custom  when 
they  see  any  who  come  from  afar,  because  it  reminds  them 
of  their  deceased  relatives  whom  they  suppose  on  a  long  jour- 
ney, from  which  they  await  their  return.  These  good  people, 
in  conclusion,  gave  us  guides,  and  we  passed  their  river  in 
their  periaguas. 

"We  crossed  three  or  four  others  the  following  days,  without 
any  incident  of  note,  except  that  our  Shawnee,  firing  at  a 
deer  pretty  near  a  large  village,  so  terrified  them  all  by  the 
report  that  they  took  to  flight.  The  sieur  de  la  Salle  put  all 
imder  arms  to  enter  the  village,  which  consisted  of  three 
hundred  cabins.  We  entered  the  largest,  that  of  the  chief, 
where  we  found  his  wife  still,  unable  to  fly  from  old  age. 
The  sieur  de  la  Salle  made  her  imderatand  that  we  came  as 
friends ;  three  of  her  sons,  brave  warriors,  observed  at  a  dis- 
tance what  passed,  and  seeing  us  to  be  friendly,  recalled  all 
their  people.  "Wo  treated  of  peace,  and  the  calumet  was 
danced  till  evening,  when  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  not  trusting 
them  overmuch,  went  and  encamped  beyond  the  canes,  so 
that,  if  the  Indians  approached  by  night,  the  noise  of  the 
canes  would  prevent  om'  being  surprised. 

This  showed  his  discernment  and  prudence,  for  during  the 
night  a  band  of  warriore,  armed  with  arrows,  approached ; 
but  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  without  leaving  his  intrenchment, 
threatened  to  thunder  his  guns;  and  in  a  word  spoke  so 
bold  and  flrmly,  that  he  obliged  them  to  draw  off.    After 


*  Cabeza  de  Yaca  from  the  same  oiroumstanoe  gives  a  similar  name  to  a  tribe 
in  that  quarter. 


DISOOVEBIES  IN  THE  UISSISSIPFI  TALLET. 


201 


their  retreat  the  night  passed  off  quietly,  and  the  next  day 
after  reciprocal  marks  of  friendship,  apparent  at  least  on  the 
side  of  the  Indians,  we  panned  onr  ronte  to  five  or  six 
leagues  heyond.  Here  we  were  agreeably  surprised  to  find 
a  party  of  Indians  come  out  to  meet  us,  with  ears  of  corn  in 
their  hands,  and  a  polished,  honest  air.  They  embraced  us, 
inviting  us  most  pressingly  to  go  and  visit  their  villages ;  the 
sieur  de  la  Salle  seeing  their  sincerity,  agreed.  Among  other 
things  these  Indians  told  us  that  they  knew  whites  toward  the 
west,  a  cniel,  wicked  nation,  who  depeopled  the  country 
around  them.  (These  were  the  Spaniards.)  "We  told  them 
that  we  were  at  war  with  that  people ;  when  the  news  of  this 
spread  through  the  village  called  that  of  the  Kironas,  all  vied 
with  each  other  in  welcoming  us,  pressing  us  to  stay,  and  go 
to  war  with  the  Spaniards  of  Mexico.  "We  put  them  off  with 
fair  words,  and  made  a  strict  alliance  with  them,  promising 
to  return  with  more  numerous  troops ;  then  after  many  feasts 
and  presents,  they  carried  us  over  the  river  in  periaguas. 

As  we  constantly  held  on  our  way  to  the  east,  through 
beautiful  prairies,  a  misfortune  befell  us  after  three  days' 
march.  Our  Indian  hunter  Kika  suddenly  cried  out  with  all 
his  might,  "  I  am  dead  1"  We  ran  up  and  learned  that  he 
had  been  cruelly  bitten  by  a  snake;  this  accident  stopped 
us  for  several  days.  "We  gave  him  some  orvietan,  and  ap- 
plied viper's  salt  on  the  wound  after  scarifying  it  to  let  out 
the  poison  and  tainted  blood ;  he  was  at  last  saved. 

Some  days  after  we  had  many  other  alarms.  Having 
reached  a  large  and  rapid  river,  which  we  were  told  ran  to 
the  sea,  and  which  we  called  Misfortune*  river,  we  made  a 
raft  to  cross ;  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  and  Cavelier  with  a  part 


imil'iiw 


l„HlJ 


*  ThiB  river  differs  from  the  Maligne,  and  is  supposed  to  be  the  C9lorado 
olTezaa 


202 


NABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  IX)UAT. 


of  our  people  got  on ;  but  scarcely  had  they  got  into  the  cur- 
rent, when  by  its  violence  it  carried  them  off  with  incredible 
rapidity,  so  that  they  disappeared  almost  instantly.  I  re- 
mained ashore  with  a  part  of  our  men :  our  hunter  was  absent, 
having  been  lost  for  some  days.  It  was  a  moment  of  extreme 
anguish  for  us  all,  who  despaired  of  ever  again  seeing  our 
guardian-angel,  the  sieur  de  la  Salle.  God  vouchsafed  to  in- 
spire me  constantly  with  courage,  and  I  cheered  up  those 
who  remained  as  well  as  I  could.  The  whole  day  was  spent 
in  tears  and  weeping,  when  at  nightfall  we  saw  on  the  oppo- 
site brink  La  Salle  with  all  his  party.  We  now  learned  that 
by  an  interposition  of  Providence,  the  raft  had  been  stopped 
by  a  large  tree  floating  in  the  middle  of  the  river.  This  gave 
them  a  chance  to  make  an  effort  and  get  out  of  the  current, 
which  would  otherwise  have  carried  them  out  to  sea.  One 
of  his  men  sprang  into  the  water  to  catch  the  branch  of  a  tree, 
and  then  was  unable  to  get  back  to  the  raft.  He  was  a  Bre- 
ton named  But;  but  he  soon  after  appeared  on  our  side, 
having  swam  ashore. 

The  night  was  spent  in  anxiety,  thinking  how  we  should 
find  means  to  pass  to  the  other  side  to  join  the  sieur  de  la 
Salle.  "We  had  not  eaten  all  day,  but  Providence  provided 
for  us  by  letting  two  eaglets  fall  from  a  cedar-tree ;  we  were 
ten  at  ':his  meal. 

The  next  day  we  had  to  pass;  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  advised 
us  to  make  a  raft  of  canes :  the  sieur  Moranget  and  I,  with 
three  othere,  led  the  way.  not  without  danger,  for  we  went 
under  every  moment,  and  I  was  obliged  to  put  ov/t  breviary 
in  our*  cowl,  because  it  got  wet  in  the  sleeve.    The  sieur 

*  Hie  Franciscans  were  founded  at  a  time  when  commerce  was  taking  gigan- 
tic steps,  and  men  all  became  inflamed  with  desires  of  rapidly  acquiring  wealth. 
8t  Francis  arose  to  counteract  this  spirit  so  fatal  to  real  Christianity  in  the 
heart    Example  is  the  easiest  mode  of  teaching;  and  his  poor  friars  rejecting 


DISOOYEBIES  IK  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLET. 


203 


de  la  Salle  sent  two  men  to  swim  out  and  help  us  push  the 
canes  on,  and  they  brought  us  safely  in.  Those  who  re- 
mained on  the  other  side  did  not  at  all  like  risking  it,  but 
they  had  to  do  it  at  last,  on  our  making  show  of  packing  up 
and  continuing  our  march  without  them ;  they  then  crossed 
at  less  hazard  than  we. 

The  whole  troop  except  the  hunter  being  now  assembled, 
we  for  two  days  traversed  a  thick  cane-brake,  the  sieur  de 
la  Salle  cutting  his  way  with  two  axes,  and  the  others  in  like 
manner  to  break  the  canes.  At  last,  on  the  third  day,  our 
hunter  Nika  came  in  loaded  with  three  dried  deer,  and  an- 
other just  killed.  The  sieur  de  la  Salle  ordered  a  discharge 
of  several  guns  to  show  our  joy. 

Still  marching  east,  we  entered  countries  still  finer  than 
those  we  had  passed,  and  found  tribes  that  had  nothing  bar- 
barous but  the  name ;  among  others  we  met  a  very  honest 
Indian  returning  from  the  chase  with  his  wife  and  family. 
He  presented  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  with  one  of  his  horses  and 
some  meat,  invited  him  and  all  his  party  to  his  cabin ;  and  to 
induce  us,  left  his  wife,  family,  and  game,  as  a  pledge,  while 
he  hastened  to  the  village  to  announce  our  coming.  Our 
hunter  and  a  servant  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  accompanied 
him,  so  that  two  days  after  they  returned  to  us  with  two 
horses  loaded  with  provisions,  and  several  chiefs  followed  by 
warriors  very  neatly  attired  in  dressed  skins  adorned  with 
feathers.  They  came  on  bearing  the  calumet  ceremoniously, 
and  met  us  three  leagues  from  the  village ;  the  sieur  de  la 
Salle  was  received  as  if  in  triumph,  and  lodged  in  the  great 
chief's  cabin.  There  was  a  great  concourse  of  people ;  the 
young  men  being  drawn  out  and  under  arms,  relieving  one 

the  word  mine,  showed  in  their  whole  deportment  that  contempt  of  wealth  and 
property,  which  seemed  a  comment  on  the  words,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
Bpirit." 


m 


'M 


204 


KABBATIVE  OP  FATHER  DOTJAT. 


another  night  and  day,  and  besides  loading  us  with  presents 
and  all  kinds  of  provisions.  Nevertheless,  the  sieur  de  la 
Salle  fearing  lest  some  of  his  party  might  go  after  the  women, 
encamped  three  leagues  from  the  village.  Here  we  remained 
three  or  four  days,  and  bought  horses  and  all  that  we  needed. 

This  village,  that  of  the  Coenis,  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  populous  that  I  have  seen  in  America.  It  is,  at  least, 
twenty  leagues  long,  not  that  it  is  constantly  inhabited,  but 
in  hamlets  of  ten  or  twelve  cabins,  forming  cantons  each  with 
a  different  name.  Their  cabins  are  fine,  forty  or  fifty  feet 
high,  of  the  shape  of  bee-hives.  Trees  are  planted  in  the 
ground,  and  united  above  by  the  branches,  which  are  cov- 
ered with  grass.  The  beds  are  ranged  around  the  cabin, 
three  or  four  feet  from  the  ground ;  the  fire  is  in  the  middle, 
each  cabin  holding  two  families. 

We  found  among  the  Ccenis  many  things  which  undoubt- 
edly came  from  the  Spaniards,  such  as  dollars,  and  other 
pieces  of  money,  silver  spoons,  lace  of  every  kind,  clothes  and 
horses.  We  saw,  among  other  things,  a  bull  from  Kome,  ex- 
empting the  Spaniards  in  Mexico  from  fasting  during  sum- 
mer. Horses  are  common,  they  gave  them  to  us  for  an  axe ; 
one  Ooenis  offered  me  one  for  our  cowl,  to  which  he  took  a 
fancy. 

They  have  intercourse  with  the  Spaniards  through  the 
Choiimans,  their  allies,  who  are  always  at  war  with  New 
Spain.  The  sieur  de  la  Salle  made  them  draw  on  bark  a 
map  of  their  country,  of  that  of  their  neighbors,  and  of  the 
river  Colbert,  or  Mississippi,  with  which  they  are  acquainted. 
They  reckoned  themselves  six  days'  journey  from  the  Span- 
iards, of  whom  they  gave  us  so  natural  a  description,  that  we 
no  longer  had  any  doubts  on  the  point,  although  the  Span- 
iards had  not  yet  undertaken  to  come  to  their  villages,  their 


DISOOVEBIES  IN  THB  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


206 


warriors  merely  joining  the  Choiiraans  to  go  war  on  New 
Mexico.  The  sieur  de  la  Salle,  who  perfectly  understood  the 
art  of  gaining  the  Indians  of  all  nations,  filled  these  with  ad- 
miration at  every  moment.  Among  other  things  he  told 
them,  that  the  chief  of  the  French  was  the  greatest  chief  in 
the  world,  as  high  as  the  sun,  and  as  far  above  the  Spaniard 
as  the  sun  is  above  the  earth.  On  his  recounting  the  vic- 
tories of  our  monarch,  they  burst  into  exclamations,  putting 
their  hand  on  their  mouth  as  a  mark  of  astonishment.  I 
found  them  very  docile  and  tractable,  and  they  seized  well 
enough  what  we  told  them  of  the  truth  of  a  God. 

There  were  then  some  Choiimans  embassadors  among 
them,  who  came  to  visit  us ;  I  was  agreeably  surprised  to  see 
them  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  kneel,  clasp  their  hands, 
raise  them  from  time  to  time  to  heaven.  They  also  kissed 
my  habit,  and  gave  me  to  understand  that  men  dressed  like' 
us  instructed  tribes  in  their  vicinity,  who  were  only  two  days' 
march  from  the  Spaniards,  where  our  religious  had  large 
churches,  in  which  all  assembled  to  j,^  7.  They  expressed 
very  naturally  the  ceremonies  of  mass,  ol  j  of  them  sketched 
me  a  painting  that  he  had  seen  of  a  great  lady,  who  was 
weeping  because  her  son  was  upon  a  cross.  He  told  us  that 
the  Spaniards  butchered  the  Indians  cruelly,  and  finally  that 
if  we  would  go  with  them,  or  give  them  guns,  they  could 
easily  conquer  them,  because  they  were  a  cowardly  race,  who 
had  no  courage,  and  made  people  walk  before  them  with  a 
fan  to  refresh  them  in  hot  weather. 

After  remaining  here  four  or  five  days  to  recruit,  we  pur- 
sued our  route  through  the  Nassonis,  crossing  a  large  river 
which  intersects  the  great  Coenis  village.    These  two  nations 
are  allies,  and  have  nearly  the  same  character  and  customs. 
Four  or  five  leagues  from  there,  we  had  the  mortification 


206 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  DOUAT. 


to  8eo  that  four  of  our  men  had  deserted  under  cover  of  night, 
and  retired  to  the  Nassonis;  and,  to  complete  our  chagrin, 
the  sieur  de  la  Salle  and  his  nephew,  the  sieur  de  Moranget, 
were  attacked  with  a  violent  fever,  which  brought  them  to 
extremity.  Their  illness  was  long,  and  obliged  us  to  make  a 
long  stay  at  this  place,  for  when  the  fever,  after  frequent  re- 
lapses, left  them  at  last,  they  required  a  long  time  to  recover 
entirely. 

The  length  of  this  sickness  disconcerted  all  our  measures, 
and  was  eventually  the  cause  of  the  last  misfortunes  which 
befell  us.  It  kept  us  back  more  than  two  months,  during 
which  we  had  to  live  as  we  could  ;  our  powder  began  to  run 
out;  we  had  not  advanced  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty 
leagues  in  a  straight  line,  and  some  of  our  people  had  de- 
serted. In  so  distressing  a  crisis  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  re- 
'solved  to  retrace  his  steps  to  Fort  Louis ;  all  agreed  and  we 
straightway  resumed  our  route,  during  which  nothing  hap- 
pened worth  note ;  but  that,  as  we  repassed  th :  Maligne,  one 
of  our  men  was  caiTied  off  with  his  raft  by  a  crocodile  of 
prodigious  length  and  bulk. 

After  a  good  month's  march,  in  which  our  horses  did  us 
good  service,  we  reached  the  camp  on  the  17th  of  October,  in 
the  same  year,  1686,  where  we  were  welcomed  with  all  im- 
aginable cordiality ;  but,  after  all,  with  feelings  tinged  alike 
with  joy  and  sadness,  as  each  related  the  tragical  adventures 
which  had  befallen  both  since  we  had  parted. 

It  would  be  diflScult  to  find  in  history  courage  more  intrep- 
id or  more  invincible  than  that  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle ;  in 
adversity  he  was  never  cast  down,  and  always  hoped  with 
the  help  of  Heaven  to  succeed  in  his  enterprises,  despite  all 
the  obstacles  that  rose  against  it. 

He  remained  two  months  and  a  half  at  Saint  Louis  bay, 


Ill;  A 


fm\ 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


2or 


and  we  visited  together  all  the  rivers  which  empty  into  it. 
To  my  own  knowledge,  I  am  sure  that  there  are  more  than 
fifty,  all  navigable,  coming  from  the  west  and  northwest;  the 
place  where  the  fort  stands  is  somewhat  sandy ;  everywhere 
else  the  ground  is  good.  On  every  side  we  saw  prairies  on 
which  the  grass  is,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  higher  than 
wheat  with  us.  Every  two  or  three  leagues  is  a  river  skirted 
with  oaks,  thorn,  mulberry,  and  other  trees.  This  kind  of 
country  is  uniform  till  within  two  days'  march  of  the  Span- 
iards. 

The  fort  is  built  on  a  little  eminence  which  runs  north  and 
Bouth ;  it  has  the  sea  on  the  southwest,  vast  prairies  to  the 
west,  and  on  the  southwest  two  small  lakes,  and  woods  a 
league  in  circuit ;  a  river  flows  at  its  foot.  The  neighboring 
nations  are  the  Quoaquis,  who  raise  Indian  corn,  and  have 
horees  cheap,  the  Bahamos,  and  the  Quinets,  wandering  tribes 
with  whom  we  are  at  war.  During  this  time,  the  sieur  de  la 
Salle  forgot  nothing  to  console  his  little  infant  colony,  in 
which  the  families  began  to  increase  by  births.  He  advanced 
greatly  the  clearing  of  land,  and  the  erection  of  buildings ; 
the  sieur  de  Chefdeville,  priest,  the  sieur  Cavelier,  and  we 
three  Kecollects,  laboring  in  concert  for  the  edification  of  the 
French,  and  of  some  Indian  families  who  withdrew  from  the 
neighboring  nations  to  join  us.  During  all  this  time  the  sieur 
de  la  Salle  did  his  utmost  to  render  the  Indians  less  hostile; 
peace  with  them  being  of  the  utmost  consequence  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  colony. 

At  last  Monsieur  de  la  Salle  resolved  to  resume  his  Ilinois 
voyage,  so  necessary  for  his  plans ;  he  made  an  address  full 
of  eloquence,  with  that  engaging  way  so  natural  to  him;  the 
whole  colony  was  present,  and  were  almost  moved  to  tears, 
persuaded  of  the  necessity  of  his  voyage,  and  the  uprightness 


,ii«iiii 


r''|i| 


208 


NARBATITE  07  FATHEB  DOUAT. 


of  his  intentions.  Would  to  God  that  all  had  persevered  in 
these  sentiments !  lie  completed  the  fortification  of  a  great 
enclosure,  encircling  all  the  habitations  and  the  fort,  after 
which  ho  chose  twenty  men,  the  sieur  Gavelier,  his  brother, 
the  sieurs  Moranget  and  Cavelior,  his  nephews,  with  the 
sieur  Joutcl,^  pilot  and  myself.  After  public  prayers  we  set 
out  on  the  7th  of  January,  1687.t 

*  Joutel  was  not  in  the  previons  exoursion  of  the  Ceniai  of  which  the  miuion- 
ary's  is  the  only  Account 

f  The  fnto  of  the  pnrtj  left  in  the  fort  is  involved  in  some  obscurity ;  it  is  cer- 
tain that  they  were  killed  by  the  Indians.  The  period  of  this  disaster  seems  to 
have  been  some  time  after  La  Salle's  departure.  The  Spanish  account  of  the 
fate  of  La  Salle's  colony  in  Texas,  from  the  Ensoyo  Cronologico  of  Barcia 
(p.  294),  is  as  follows: — 

In  the  month  of  January,  1080,  Don  Alonso  de  Leon  set  out  from  the  province  of 
Qnoguila  (Coahuila),  with  some  horses,  inarching  north  of  the  sea,  crossing  great 
mountains,  and  the  river  which  runs  near  Valladolid,  and  those  of  Sauceda,  Nasos, 
Salinas,  the  river  Florido,  and  others,  to  Caovil,  a  Spanish  town  in  Now  Mexico, 
which  is  also  called  Calhuila ;  he  then  turned  to  his  right,  and  crossing  the  Rio 
Brovo  (which  is  also  called  Del  Norte,  or  Rio  Verde,  and  rises  in  the  loke  of  the 
Canibas)  below  Fort  St.  John,  he  entered  the  province  of  the  Quelanhubeches 
and  Bahamos  Indians,  and  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  came  in  his  opinion  to 
the  bay,  called  St  Bernard's ;  it  had  mony  estuaries  and  several  lorge  rivers 
flowed  into  it  Tlie  French  called  it  St  Louis  Bay.  He  arrived  at  the  fort  which 
Bobert  de  la  Salle  had  built  with  palisades,  and  ship  timbers :  he  reconnoitred 
it,  and  found  nothing  there  but  the  dead  bodies  of  some  foreigners,  inside  and 
outside  the  fort,  killed  by  arrows  and  blows^  and  eighteen  iron  cannon  on  navy 
gun  carriages. 

The  destruction  he  witnessed  excited  his  greatest  compassion,  and,  as  the 
novelty  of  Don  Alonso's  squadron  had  congregated  many  Indians,  he  asked  them 
the  motive  of  that  deed,  but  the  Indians,  who  had  perpetrated  it,  pretended  not 
to  understand  his  signs,  and  showed  by  others  that^  if  any  one  knew  the  whole 
matter,  it  would  be  five  companions  of  the  deceased,  who  were  sick,  in  the 
province  of  the  Tejas,  a  hundred  leagues  distant ;  that  they  would  go  and  inform 
them ;  and  although  Don  Alonso  ascertained  that  the  Indians  of  the  neighbor- 
hood had  conspired  and  put  to  death  all  the  French,  reserving  only  two  children, 
burning  the  powder,  destroying  the  arms,  and  carrying  off  all  they  could,  and 
then  celebrating  the  victory  in  all  their  towns  with  great  feastings  and  dances 
they  constantly  denied  having  any  hand  in  the  slaughter. 

Such  was  the  end  of  Fort  St  Louis,  which  cost  the  unhappy  Robert  de  la  Salle 
BO  much  toil  and  anxiety.  Don  Alonso  could  not  then  ascertain  whether  there 
had  been  any  motive  for  this  cruelty,  beyond  the  hatred  of  the  Indians,  or  wheth- 
er the  French  had  given  any  cause ;  nor  did  he  deem  it  prudent  to  examine  (he 


DISCOVERIES  m  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


209 


The  very  firet  day  wo  met  an  army  of  Bahamos  going  to 
war  with  tho  Ei'igoanna ;  the  siour  do  hi  Salle  made  an  al- 

IndJans  more  closely,  ns  ho  tavr  by  their  looks  tliat,  were  ho  not  accompanied  by 
io  well-appointed  and  well-nrined  a  body  of  cavalry,  prepared  to  meet  tliem, 
thoy  woiiM  have  closed  the  tragedy  with  tho  Spaniards. 

At  tho  close  of  May  Tonty  knew  it,  being  then  ono  day's  march  from  the 
Palaquesones :  ho  states  that  tho  French  of  Fort  St.  Louis,  being  unable  to  keep 
together,  had  either  mixed  with  tho  Indians,  or  started  for  Frencli  posts,  and  that, 
without  examining  further,  ho  returned  to  Illinois. 

In  order  to  deliver  tlie  flvo  Frenchmen  who  wore  among  tho  Tejas,  Don  Alonso 
accepted  tho  proposal  mado  to  inform  them.  Ho  accordingly  wrote  to  them  in 
French,  by  means  of  an  interpreter,  telling  them,  with  many  kind  expressions, 
that,  having  heard  of  tho  shipwreck,  and  peril  of  their  companions,  ho  hnd  come 
by  order  of  tho  viceroy  of  New  Spain,  to  deliver  them  from  tho  slavery  of  thoso 
■avnges,  and  save  their  lives;  that  lie  regretted  extremely  his  liaving  known  tho 
misfortune  of  their  companions  so  late,  ns  to  have  been  unable  to  come  more 
speedily,  and  prevent  the  murders  which  the  Indians  had  perpetrated  on  them ; 
that  if  they  chose  to  come  to  hitn,  ho  would  free  them,  and  treat  tlicm  as  became 
a  Christian  and  a  gentleman. 

Four  Indians  carried  this  letter,  and  during  the  few  days  that  it  took  them  to 
return,  Don  Alonso  ordered  the  French  to  bo  buried ;  this  tho  Spaniards  did, 
weeping  over  this  catastrophe,  ond  misfortune,  and  praying  most  earnestly  for 
tho  salvation  of  their  souls.  This  sliowi*  how  ill-informed  ho  was,  who  edited 
Joutel's  account  of  La  Salle's  voyage,  when  he  says,  at  tho  end,  that  when  La 
Salle's  death  was  known  by  the  Spaniards,  thoy  sent  a  party  who  carried 
off  the  garrison  of  Fort  St.  Louis,  and  then  put  them  to  'loath,  thus  defrauding 
Don  Alonso  and  his  soldiers  of  the  meed  their  piety  deserved,  by  so  ungrateful 
and  notorious  a  falsehood. 

The  Indians  arrived,  with  letter,  in  tho  province  where  the  five  Frenchmen 
were ;  when  they  hod  road  it,  their  opinions  ns  to  it  were  divided.  Three  said 
that  they  could  not  believe  that  the  Indians  had  killed  their  companions,  and 
destroyed  the  fort ;  that  it  must  have  been  tho  Spaniards,  who  now  called  them 
to  do  the  same  with  them.  "For  why,"  they  added,  "can  wo  expect  a  better 
fate,  did  we  come  into  this  country  to  do  them  any  good  f  If  they  do  not  treat 
us  as  usurpers  of  territories  they  have  occupied  this  many  years,  for  having 
come  now,  without  any  ground,  to  despoil  them  and  excite  the  Indians,  by  peace 
and  war,  against  them,  endeavoring  to  make  them  out  horrible  and  abominable, 
by  pretending  cruelties,  inventing  tyrannies,  and  describing  slaughters  that 
never  took  place,  at  least  they  will  treat  us  as  robbers  ond  pirates." 

James  Grollet,  and  John  Larchevdque,  of  Bordeaux,  endeavored  to  moderate 
their  comrades'  fears,  saying  that,  "if  the  Spaniards  hod  killed  the  French,  the 
Indians  of  the  country  put  to  flight  will  relate  tho  story,  and  will  not  confirm 
the  bearers  of  the  letter,  and  its  contents ;  that  they  did  not,  and  could  not  have 
anything  to  do  with  usurpotion  of  countries,  nor  piracies,  as  a  body  of  soldiers 
coming  with  their  officers,  would  always  go  where  their  king  sends  them,  and 
that  the  greatest  evil  would  be,  that  they  would  be  sent  prisoners  to  Mexico. 

14 


i-i.:. 


210 


NABRATIVE  OF  FATHER  DOUAT. 


liance  with  them.  He  wished  also  to  treat  wit .  the  Quinete, 
who  fled  at  our  approach;  hut  having  overtaken  them  hy 
means  of  our  horses,  we  treated  them  so  kindly  that  they 
promised  an  inviolable  peace. 

The  fourth  day,  three  leagues  further  to  the  northeast,  we 
came  to  the  first  Cane  river.  Our  route  lay  through  prairies, 
with  scattered  groves ;  the  soil  is  so  good  that  the  grass  grows 
ten  or  twelve  feet  high.  There  are  on  this  river  many  popu- 
lous villages ;  we  visited  only  the  Quaras  and  the  Anachore- 
mas. 

In  the  same  direction,  three  leagi  'S  further,  we  came  to 
the  second  Cane  river,  inhabited  by  iiflferent  tribes ;  here 
we  found  fields  of  hemp. 

And  how  much  better,"  said  they,  "live  among  Chi 

among  these  savages,  exposed  to  the  whim  of  their  < 

doning  their  salvation.    If  we  were  to  invite  the  Sp 

assurance  of  life,  would  we  butcher  them,  without 

their  destruction  ?    No.    Why  then  should  we  pr 

be  uulike  ours?"    Finding,  however,  that  the  i 

obstinate  the  others  became,  Grollet  and  Larchevdque  came  with  the  four  Indians 

without  any  suspicion. 

They  all  reached  Don  Alonso,  who  ordered  the  Indians  to  be  rewarded  for 
their  diligence,  and  the  two  Frenchmen  to  be  supplied  with  necessary  food  ond 
clothing.  Following  his  instructions,  he  questioned  them  on  different  points,  and 
taking  them  into  his  company,  returned  to  Quaguila  by  May  without  meeting 
any  accident  on  the  way. 

He  informed  the  viceroy  of  all  that  he  had  seen,  observed,  or  discovered,  and 
sent  him  Grollet  and  Larcheveque,  directing  those  who  conducted  them  to  treat 
them  well.  They  arrived  and  delivered  the  viceroy  the  letters  of  Don  Alonso. 
Before  interrogating  the  Frenchmen  at  all,  he  summoned  Don  Andres  de  Pes,  as 
a  person  so  well  informed  in  the  matter,  and  then,  in  the  presence  of  both  the 
Frenchmen,  stated  La  Salle's  voyage  in  search  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  Missis- 
sippi, his  landing  in  St  Bernard's  Bay,  the  building  of  the  fort,  the  reason  of 
their  being  among  the  Tejas,  and  other  matters. 

By  the  letters  and  statements  made  by  Don  Alonso,  and  the  information  else- 
where acquired,  they  saw  the  great  injury  to  be  done  to  New  Spain  by  tJiis 
project  of  the  French,  already,  though  unsuccessfully,  attempted.  Tlie  viceroy 
asked  Don  Andres  de  Pes  to  go  to  Spain,  to  represent  the  danger,  and  the  great 
advantage  of  fortifying  Pensacola.  Don  Andres,  having  obtained  the  necessary 
instructions,  set  out  with  the  two  Frenchmen,  and  embarking  at  Vera  Cru;^ 
reached  Cadiz  safely  on  the  9ia  of  December. 


tians,  even  as  slaves,  than 
lelty,  and  risking,  or  aban- 
iards,  and  they  came  under 
.leir  giving  fresh  cause  for 
ime  tiiat  their  feelings  will 
■•e  they  argued,  the  more 


DISC0VEBIE8    IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


211 


Five  leagues  further,  we  passed  the  Sandy  river,  so  called 
from  the  sandy  strip  along  it,  though  all  the  rest  is  good  land 
and  vast  prairies. 

"We  marched  seven  or  eight  leagues  to  Eobec  river,  passing 
through  prairies,  and  over  three  or  four  rivera,  a  league  from 
one  another.  Robec  river  has  many  populous  villages,  where 
the  people  have  a  language  so  guttural,  that  it  would  require 
a  long  time  to  form  ourselves  to  it.  They  are  at  war  with  the 
Spaniards,  and  pressed  us  earnestly  to  join  their  warriors ; 
but  there  was  no  hope  of  keeping  us.  We  stayed,  however, 
five  or  six  days  with  them,  endeavoring  to  gain  them  by  pres- 
ents and  Christian  instruction,  a  thing  they  do  not  get  from 
the  Spaniards. 

Continuing  our  route,  we  crossed  great  prairies  to  the  Ma- 
ligne.  This  deep  river,  where  one  of  our  men  had  been  de- 
voured by  a  crocodile,  comes  from  a  great  distance,  and  is 
inhabited  by  forty  populous  villages,  which  compose  a  nation 
called  the  Quanoatinno ;  they  make  war  on  the  Spaniards, 
and  lord  it  over  the  neighboring  tribes.  We  visited  some  of 
these  villages  ;*  they  are  a  good  people,  but  always  savage, 
the  cruelty  of  the  Spaniards  rendering  them  still  more  fierce. 
As  they  found  us  of  a  more  tractable  nature,  they  were 
charmed  with  our  nation;  but  after  these  mutual  presents, 
we  had  to  part.  They  gave  us  horses  cheap,  and  carried  us 
over  their  river  in  hide  canoes. 

In  the  same  direction,  after  four  leagues  of  similar  land, 
extremely  fertile,  we  crossed  Hiens  river  on  rafts ;  then  turn- 
ing north-northeast,  we  had  to  cross  a  number  of  little  rivers 
and  ravines,  navigable  in  winter  and  spring.  The  land  is  di- 
versified with  prairies,  hills,  and  numerous  springs.    Here  we 

*  Joutel  says  they  merely  heard  of  the  Canohatino,  and  calls  them  afterward 
enemies  of  the  Cenis. 


fi'lii'l 


'.I'Wiil 


:;:il 


K 


212 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER  DOUAY. 


found  three  large  villages,  the  Taraha,  Tyakappan,  and 
Falona,  who  have  horaes.  Some  leagues  further  on,  we  came 
to  the  Palaquesson*  composed  of  ten  villages,  allies  of  the 
Spaniards. 

After  having  passed  these  nations,  the  most  disheartening 
of  all  our  misfortunes  overtook  us.  It  was  the  murder  of 
Monsieur  de  la  Salle,  of  the  sieur  de  Moranget,  and  of  some 
others.  Our  prudent  commander  finding  himself  in  a  coun- 
try full  of  game,  after  all  the  party  had  recruited  and  lived 
for  several  days  on  every  kind  of  good  meat,  sent  the  sieur 
Moranget,  his  lackey  Saget,  and  seven  or  eight  of  his  people, 
to  a  place  where  our  hunter,  the  Shawnee  Nika,  had  left  a 
quantity  of  buffalo  meat  (boeuf)  to  dry,  so  as  not  to  be 
obliged  to  stop  so  often  to  hunt. 

The  wisdom  of  Monsieur  de  la  Salle  had  not  been  able  to 
foresee  the  plot  which  .some  of  his  people  would  make  to 
slay  his  nephew,  as  they  suddenly  resolved  to  do,  and  actual- 
ly did  on  the  17th  of  March,  by  a  blow  of  an  axe,  dealt  by 
one  whom  charity  does  not  permit  me  to  name  (Liotot).  They 
also  killed  the  valet  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  and  the  Indian 
Nika,  who,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  had  supported  them  for 
more  than  three  years.  The  sieur  de  Moranget  lingered  for 
about  two  hours,  giving  every  mark  of  a  death  precious  in 
the  sight  of  God,  pardoning  his  murderers,  and  embracing 
them;  and  making  acts  of  sorrow  and  contrition,  as  they 
themselves  assured  us,  after  they  recovered  from  their  unhap- 
py blindness.  He  was  a  perfectly  honest  man,  and  a  good 
Christian,  confessing  every  week  or  fortnight  on  our  march. 
I  have  every  reason  to  hope  that  God  has  shown  him  mercy. 

The  wretches  resolved  not  to  stop  here ;  and  not  satisfied 

*  According  to  Joutel,  Hist  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  i.,  p.  147.  Palaquechaune 
was  an  Indian,  whose  tribe  were  allies  of  the  Cenis,  and  who  knew  the  Chou- 
mans,  the  friends  of  the  Spaniards. 


DISC0VEEIE8  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


213 


with  tliis  murder,  formed  a  design  of  attempting  their  com- 
mander's life,  as  they  had  reason  to  fear  his  resentment  and 
chastisement.  "We  were  full  two  leagues  off;  the  sieur  de  la 
Salle,  troubled  at  the  delay  of  the  sieur  de  Moranget  and  his 
people,  from  whom  he  had  been  separated  now  for  two  or 
three  days,  began  to  fear  that  they  had  been  surprised  by  the 
Indians.  Asking  me  to  accompany  him,  be  took  two  Indians 
and  set  out.  All  the  way  he  conversed  with  me  of  matters 
of  piety,  grace,  and  predestination ;  expatiating  on  all  his  ob- 
ligations to  God  for  having  sa-ad  him  from  so  many  dangers 
during  the  last  twenty  years  that  he  had  traversed  America. 
He  seemed  to  me  peculiarly  penetrated  with  a  sense  of  God's 
benefits  to  him.  Suddenly  I  saw  him  plunged  into  a  deep 
melancholy,  for  which  he  himself  could  not  account ;  he  was 
80  troubled  that  I  did  not  know  him  any  longer ;  as  this  state 
was  far  from  being  usual,  I  roused  him  from  his  lethargy. 
Two  leagues  after  we  found  the  bloody  cravat  of  his  lackey ; 
he  perceived  two  eagles  flying  over  his  head,  and  at  the  same 
time  discovered  some  of  his  people  on  the  edge  of  the  river, 
which  he  approached,  asking  them  what  had  become  of  his 
nephew.  They  answered  us  in  broken  words,  showing  us 
where  we  should  find  him.  "We  proceeded  some  steps  along 
the  bank  to  the  fatal  spot,  where  two  of  these  murderers  were 
hidden  in  the  grass,  one  on  each  side  with  guns  cocked ;  one 
missed  Monsieur  de  la  Salle,  the  one  firing  at  the  same  time 
shot  him  in  the  head ;  he  died  an  hour  after,  on  the  19th  of 
March,  1687. 

I  expected  the  same  fate,  but  this  danger  did  not  oc- 
cupy my  thoughts,  penetrated  with  grief  at  so  cruel  a  spec- 
tacle, I  saw  him  fall  a  step  from  me,  with  his  face  all  full  of 
blood ;  I  watered  it  with  my  tears,  exhorting  him,  to  the  best 
of  my  power,  to  die  well.    He  had  confessed  and  fulfilled  his 


214 


NABEATIVE  OP  FATHER  DOUAT. 


devotions  just  before  we  started ;  be  bad  still  time  to  recapit- 
ulate a  part  of  bis  life,  and  I  gave  bim  absolution.  Dnring 
bis  last  moments  be  elicited  all  tbe  acts  of  a  good  Christian, 
grasping  my  band  at  every  word  I  suggested,  and  especially 
at  that  of  pardoning  bis  enemies.  Meanwbile  bis  murderers, 
as  mucb  alarmed  as  I,  began  to  strike  tbeir  breasts,  and  de- 
test their  blindness.  I  could  not  leave  tbe  spot  wben  be  bad 
expired  without  having  buried  bim  as  well  as  I  could,  after 
which  I  raised  a  cross  over  his  grave.* 

Thus  died  our  wise  commander,  constant  in  adversity,  in- 
trepid, generous,  engaging,  dexterous,  skilful,  capable  of 
everything.  He  who  for  twenty  years  bad  softened  the  fierce 
temper  of  countless  savage  tribes,  was  massacred  by  the 
bands  of  bis  own  domestics,  whom  he  bad  loaded  with  cares- 
ses. He  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  in  tbe  midst  of  his  course 
and  labors,  without  having  seen  tbeir  success. 

Occupied  with  these  thoughts,  which  he  bad  himself  a 
thousand  times  suggested  to  us,  while  relating  tbe  events  of 
tbe  new  discoveries,  I  unceasingly  adored  the  inscrutable  de- 
signs of  God  in  this  conduct  of  bis  providence,  uncertain  still 
what  fate  be  reserved  for  us,  as  our  desperadoes  plotted  noth- 
ing less  than  our  destruction.  We  at  last  entered  the  place 
where  Monsieur  Cavelier  was ;  tbe  assassins  entered  the  cabin 
unceremoniously,  and  seized  all  that  was  there.  I  bad  ar- 
rived a  moment  before  them ;  I  bad  no  need  to  speak,  for  as 
soon  as  be  beheld  my  countenance  all  bathed  in  teai-s,  the 
fiieur  Cavelier  exclaimed  aloud,  "Ah I  my  poor  brother  is 
dead!"  This  holy  ecclesiastic,  whose  virtue  has  been  so 
often  tried  in  tbe  apostolic  labors  of  Canada,  fell  at  once  on 
bis  knees,  his  nephew,  tbe  sieur  Cavelier,  myself,  and  some 

*  This  and  the  circumstances  of  Moranget's  death,  are  denied  by  Joutel  iu 
Sitt.  Coll.  of  Lmiaiana,  vol.  L 


DISCOVERIES  m  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


215 


others  did  the  same,  to  prepare  to  die  the  same  death,  but 
the  wretches  touched  by  some  sentiments  of  compaseion  at 
the  sight  of  the  venerable  old  man,  and  besides  half  penitent 
for  the  murders  they  had  committed,  resolved  to  spare  us,  on 
condition  that  we  should  never  return  to  France ;  but  as  they 
were  still  undecided,  and  many  of  them  wished  to  return 
home,  we  heard  them  often  say,  that  they  must  get  rid  of  us; 
that  otherwise  we  would  accuse  them  before  the  tribunals,  if 
we  once  had  them  in  the  kingdom. 

They  elected  as  chief  the  murderer  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle 
(Duhaut),  and,  at  last,  after  many  deliberations,  resolved  to 
push  on  to  that  famous  nation  of  the  Cojnis.  Accordingly, 
after  marching  together  for  several  days,  crossing  rivei's  and 
rivers,  everywhere  treated  by  these  wretches  as  servants, 
having  nothing  but  what  they  left,  we  reached  the  tribe  with- 
out accident. 

Meanwhile  the  justice  of  God  accomplished  the  punish- 
ment of  these  men,  in  default  of  human  justice.  Jealousy 
and  desire  of  command  arose  between  Iliens  and  the  sieur  de 
la  Salle's  murderer ;  each  one  of  the  guilty  band  sided  on 
one  side  or  the  other.  We  had  passed  the  Coenis,  after  some 
stay  there,  and  were  already  at  the  Nassonis,  where  the  four 
deserters,  whom  I  mentioned  in  the  first  expedition,  rejoined 
us.  On  the  eve  of  Ascension  seeing  all  together,  and  our 
wretches  resolved  to  kill  each  other,  I  made  them  an  exhor- 
tation on  the  festival,  at  which  they  seemed  affected,  and  re- 
solved to  confess ;  but  this  did  not  last.  Those  who  most  re- 
gretted the  murder  of  their  commander  and  leader,  had  sided 
with  Hiens  who,  seizing  his  opportunity  two  days'  after. 
Bought  to  punish  crime  by  crime.  In  our  presence  he  shot 
the  murderer  of  La  Salle  through  the  heart  with  a  pistol ;  he 
died  on  the  spot,  unshriven,  unable  even  to  utter  the  names 


""\ 


H«f 


f) 


\M 


216 


17ABBATIVE  OF  FATHER  DOITAT. 


of  Jesns  and  Mary.  Another  who  was  with  Hiens,  shot  the 
murderer  of  the  sieur  de  Moranget  (Liotot),  in  the  side  with 
a  musket-ball.  He  had  time  to  confess,  after  which  a  French- 
man fired  a  blank  cartridge  at  his  head  ;  his  hair,  and  then 
his  shirt,  and  clothes,  took  fire  and  wrapped  him  in  flames, 
and  in  this  torment  he  expired.  The  third  author  of  the  plot 
and  murder  fled ;  Hiens  wished  to  make  way  with  him,  and 
thus  completely  avenge  the  death  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle, 
but  the  sieur  Joutel  conciliated  them,  and  it  stopped  there.* 

By  this  means  Hiens  remained  chief  of  the  wretched 
band ;  we  had  to  return  to  the  Coenis  where  they  had  re- 
solved to  settle,  not  daring  to  return  to  France  for  fear  of 
punishment. 

A  Ccenis  army  was  ready  to  march  against  the  Kanoatino, 
a  hostile  tribe,  cruel  to  their  enemies,  whom  they  boil  alive ; 
the  Ccenis  took  our  Frenchmen  with  them,  after  which  Hiens 
pressed  us  strongly  to  remain  with  them,  but  we  would  not 
consent.  Six  of  us,  all  French,  accordingly  set  out  from  the 
Ccenis,  among  whom  were  the  sieurs  Cavelier,  uncle  and 
nephew,  and  the  sieur  Joutel.  They  gave  us  each  a  horse, 
powder  and  lead,  and  some  goods  to  jmy  our  way.  "We 
stopped  at  the  Nassonis  to  celebrate  the  octave  of  Corpus 
Christi.  They  spoke  to  us  daily  of  the  cruelty  of  the  Span- 
iards to  the  Americans,  and  told  us  that  twenty  Indian  na- 
tions were  going  to  war  against  the  Spaniards,  inviting  us  to 
join  them,  as  we  would  do  more  with  our  guns  than  all  their 
braves  with  their  warclubs  and  arrows ;  but  we  had  very  dif- 
ferent designs.  We  only  took  occasion  to  tell  them  that  we 
came  on  behalf  of  God  to  instruct  them  in  the  truth  and  save 

*  This  was  Larcheveque,  Hist.  Coll,  of  Louisiana,  vol.  i.,  p.  168.  With  Grol- 
let  who  had  deserted  from  La  Salle  on  his  first  excursion,  he  surrendered  to  a 
Spanish  party  under  Don  Alonzo  de  Leon.  See  extract  from  the  Ensayo  Crono- 
logico. 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


217 


their  souls.  In  this  we  spent  ten  or  twelve  days,  till  the  3d 
of  June,  the  feast  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua  whom  the  sieur 
de  la  Salle  had  taken  as  patron  of  his  enterprise. 

Having  received  two  Indians  to  guide  us,  we  continued  our 
way  north-northeast,  through  the  finest  country  in  the  world ; 
we  passed  four  large  rivers  and  many  ravines,  inhabited  by 
many  different  nations ;  we  reconnoitred  the  Haquis  on  the 
east,  the  Nabiri,  and  Naansi,  all  numerous  tribes  at  war  with 
the  Ccenis,  and  at  last,  on  the  23d  of  June,  we  approached 
the  Cadodacchos.*  One  of  our  Indians  went  on  to  announce 
our  coming ;  the  chiefs  and  youth  whom  we  met  a  league 
from  ihe  village,  received  us  with  the  calumet,  which  they 
gave  us  to  smoke ;  some  led  our  horses  by  the  bridle,  others 
as  it  were,  carried  us  in  triumph,  taking  us  for  spirits  and 
people  of  another  world. 

All  the  village  being  assembled,  the  women,  as  is  their 
wont,  washed  our  head  and  feet  with  warm  water,  and  then 
placed  us  on  a  platform  covered  with  a  very  neat,  white  mat ; 
then  followed  banquets,  calume^dances,  and  other  public  re- 
joicings, day  and  night.  The  people  knew  the  Europeans 
only  by  report;  like  other  tribes  through  which  we  had 
passed,  they  have  some  very  confused  ideas  of  religion  and 
adore  the  sun ;  their  gala  dresses  bear  two  painted  suns ;  on 
the  rest  of  the  body  are  representations  of  buffalo,  stags,  ser- 
pents, and  other  animals.    This  afforded  us  an  opportunity  to 

*  These  were,  doubtless,  the  Caddoes,  a  tribe  which  is  not  yet  extinct.  Ac- 
cording to  Joutel,  Hist.  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  i.,  p.  168,  the  tribe  consisted  of 
fuur  allied  villages,  Assony,  ^athosos,  Nachitos,  and  Cadodaquio.  Tonty  de- 
scribes them  as  forming  three  villages,  Cadodaquis,  Nachitoches,  and  Ifasoui, 
all  on  the  Red  river,  and  speaking  the  same  language.  Two  of  these  tribes,  the 
Nasoui  and  Nacliitochcs  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  tribes  found  by  Mus- 
coso,  the  successor  of  De  Soto,  in  the  same  vicinity,  and  called  by  Biedma,  Nis- 
sione  {Hist.  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  iii.,  p.  10*7),  and  by  the  gentleman  of  Elvas, 
Nissoone  and  Naquiscoza,  while  the  Daycao,aa  their  river  is  called,  is  not  incom- 
patible with  Gado-Dac[uio. — Hist.  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  iiL,  p.  201. 


!,r<"!*'*<l'4 


,f"*f 


i,!i'--' 


W 


liiii 


218 


NABEATIVB  OF  FATHER  DOUAT. 


give  them  Bome  lessons  on  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God, 
and  on  our  principal  mysteries. 

At  this  place  it  pleased  God  to  traverse  us  by  a  tragical 
accident.  The  sieur  de  Marne,  in  spite  of  all  that  we  could 
say,  went  to  bathe  on  the  evening  of  the  24th,  the  younger 
sieur  Oavelier  accompanied  him  to  the  river  side,  quite  near 
the  village ;  de  Marae  sprang  into  the  water  and  instantly 
disappeared.  It  was  an  abyss  where  he  was  in  a  moment 
swallowed  up.  A  few  hours  after  his  body  was  recovered 
and  brought  to  the  chief's  cabin ;  all  the  village  mourned  his 
death  with  all  ceremony ;  the  chief's  wife  herself  neatly 
wound  him  in  a  beautiful  cloth,  while  the  young  men  dug 
the  grave  which  I  blessed  the  next  day,  when  we  buried  h\vn 
with  all  possible  solemnity.  The  Indians  admired  our  cere- 
monies, from  which  we  took  occasion  to  give  them  some  in- 
struction during  the  week  that  we  remained  in  this  fatal 
place.  Our  friend  was  interred  on  an  eminence  near  the  vil- 
lage, and  his  tomb  surrounded  by  a  palisade,  surmounted 
by  a  large  cross,  which  we  got  the  Indians  to  raise,  after 
which  we  started  on  the  2d  of  July. 

This  tribe  is  on  the  banks  of  a  large  river,  on  which  lie 
three  more  famous  nations,  the  Natchoos,  the  Natchites,  the 
Ouidiches,  where  we  were  very  hospitably  received.  From 
the  Coenis  river,  where  we  began  to  find  beaver  and  otter, 
they  became  very  plentiful  as  we  advanced.  At  the  Ouidi- 
ches, we  met  three  warriors  of  two  tribes  called  the  Cahinnio 
and  the  Mentous,  twenty-five  leagues  further  east-northeast, 
who  had  seen  Frenchmen.  They  oflfered  to  guide  us  there, 
and  on  our  way  we  passed  four  rivers  on  rafts.  We  were 
received  with  the  calumet  of  peace,  and  every  mark  of  joy 
and  esteem.*    Many  of  these  Indians  spoke  to  us  of  a  great 

*  Joutel  calls  this  village  Cahaynahoua.    See  Joutel's  journal  published  in 
French's  Historical  Collections  of  Louisiana,  toL  L,  pp.  86-198. 


DISOOVEBIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  YALLET. 


219 


captain,  who  had  only  one  arm  (this  was  Monsieur  de  Tonty), 
whom  they  had  seen,  and  who  told  them  that  a  greater  cap- 
tain than  he  would  pass  through  their  village ;  this  was  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Salle. 

The  chief  lodged  us  in  his  cabin,  from  which  he  made  his 
family  retire.  We  were  here  regaled  for  several  days  on 
every  kind  of  meat ;  there  was  even  a  public  feast,  where  the 
calumet  was  danced  for  twenty-four  hours,  with  songs  made 
for  the  occasion,  which  the  chief  intoned  with  all  his  might, 
treating  us  as  people  of  the  sun,  who  came  to  defend  them 
from  their  enemies  by  the  noise  of  our  thunder.  Amidst 
tliese  rejoicings  the  younger  Cavelier  fired  his  pistol  three 
times,  crying  "Vive  le  roi,"  which  the  Indians  repeated 
loudly,  adding,  "  Vive  le  soleil."  These  Indians  have  pro- 
digious quantities  of  beaver  and  otter  skins,  which  could  be 
easily  transported  by  a  river  near. the  village;  they  wished  to 
load  our  horses  with  them,  but  we  refused,  to  show  our  disin 
terestedness ;  we  made  them  presents  of  axes  and  knives,  and 
set  out  with  two  Cahinnio  to  act  as  guides,  after  having  re- 
ceived embassies  from  the  Analao  and  Tanico,  and  other 
tribes  to  the  northwest  and  southeast.  It  was  delightful  to 
traveree  for  several  days  the  finest  country,  intersected  by 
many  rivers,  prairies,  little  woods,  and  vine-clad  hills.  Among 
others,  we  passed  four  large  navigable  rivers,  and  at  last, 
after  a  march  of  about  sixty  leagues,  we  reached  the  Osotteoez, 
who  dwell  on  a  great  river  which  comes  from  the  northwest, 
skirted  by  the  finest  woods  in  the  world.  Beaver  and  otter- 
skins,  and  all  kinds  of  peltries,  are  so  abundant  there,  that 
being  of  no  value  they  burn  them  in  heaps.  This  is  the 
famous  river  of  the  Achansa,  who  here  form  several  villages. 
At  this  point  we  began  to  know  where  we  were,  and  finding 
a  large  cross,  bearing  below  the  royal  arms,  with  a  French- 


320 


NABRATITB  OF  FATHER  DOUAT. 


looking  house,  our  people  discharged  their  guns ;  two  French- 
men at  once  came  forth,  and  the  one  in  command,  by  name 
Couture,  told  us  that  the  sieur  de  Tonty  had  stationed  them 
there  to  serve  as  an  intermediate  station  to  the  sieur  de  la 
Salle,  to  maintain  the  alliance  with  those  tribes,  and  to  shield 
them  against  attacks  by  the  Iroquois.  We  visited  three  of 
these  villages,  the  Torimans,  the  Doginga,  and  the  Kappa; 
everywhere  we  had  feasts,  harangues,  calumet-dances,  with 
every  mark  of  joy ;  we  lodged  at  the  French  house,  where 
the  two  gentlemen  treated  us  with  all  desirable  hospitality, 
putting  all  at  our  disposal.  "Whenever  any  affaire  are  to  be 
decided  among  these  nations,  they  never  give  their  resolution 
on  the  spot ;  they  assemble  the  chiefs  and  old  men,  and  de- 
liberate on  the  point  in  question.  We  had  asked  a  periagua 
and  Indians  to  ascend  the  river  Colbert,  and  thence  to  push 
on  to  the  Ilinois  by  the  rivey  Seignelay,  oflTering  to  leave  them 
our  horses,  powder,  and  lead ;  when  the  council  was  held,  it 
was  said  that  they  would  grant  us  the  periagua,  and  four  In- 
dians to  be  selected,  one  from  each  tribe,  in  token  of  a  more 
strict  alliance.  This  was  faithfully  executed,  so  that  we  dis- 
missed our  Oahinnio  with  presents,  which  perfectly  satisfied 
them. 

At  last,  after  some  time  stay,  we  embarked  on  the  1st  of 
August,  1687,  on  the  river  Colbert,  which  we  crossed  the 
same  day  in  our  periagua  forty  feet  long ;  but  as  the  current 
is  strong,  we  all  landed  to  make  the  rest  of  our  journey  on 
foot,  having  left  our  horses  and  equipage  at  the  Akansa. 
There  remained  in  the  canoe  only  the  sieur  Cavelier  whose 
age,  joined  to  the  hardships  he  had  already  undergone  on  the 
way,  did  not  permit  him  to  accomplish  on  foot  the  rest  of  our 
course  (at  least  four  hundred  leagues),  to  the  Dinois.  One 
Indian  was  in  the  canoe  to  perch  it  along,  one  of  his  com- 


DISOOVEBIES    m  TUE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


221 


rades  relieving  hitn  from  time  to  time.  As  for  the  rest  of  us, 
we  used  the  periagua  only  when  necessary  to  cross  some  dan 
gerous  passages  or  rivers.  All  this  was  not  without  much 
Buffering ;  for  the  excessive  heat  of  the  season,  the  burning 
Band,  the  broiling  sun,  heightened  by  a  want  of  provisions  foi 
Beveral  days,  gave  us  enough  to  endure. 

"We  )iad  already  travelled  two  hundred  and  fifty  leagues 
across  the  country  from  St.  Louis  bay,  viz.:  one  hundred 
leagues  to  the  Coenis  (sixty  north-northeast,  the  last  forty  east- 
northeast)  ;  from  the  Ccenis  to  the  Nassonis,  twenty-five  to 
the  east-northeast ;  from  the  Nassonis  to  the  Cadodacchos, 
forty  to  the  north-northeast ;  from  the  Cadodacchos  to  the 
Cahinnio  and  Men  tons,  twenty-five  to  the  east-northeast; 
from  the  Cahinnio  to  the  Akansa,  sixty  to  the  east-northeast. 

We  then  continued  our  route,  ascending  the  river  through 
the  same  places  which  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  had  previously 
passed  when  he  made  his  first  discovery,  of  which  I  have 
heard  him  frequently  speak,  except  that  we  went  to  the  Sica- 
cha,  where  he  had  not  been.  The  principal  village  is  twenty- 
five  leagues  east  of  the  Akansa.  This  nation  is  very  numer- 
ous; they  count  at  least  four  thousand  warriore,  have  an 
abundance  of  every  kind  of  peltry.  The  chiefs  came  several 
times  to  offer  us  the  calumet,  wishing  to  form  an  alliance 
with  the  French  and  put  themselves  under  their  protection, 
offering  even  to  come  and  dwell  on  the  river  Oiiabache  (Ohio) 
to  be  nearer  to  us. 

This  famous  river  is  full  as  large  as  the  river  Colbert,  re- 
ceiving a  quantity  of  othera  by  which  you  can  enter  it.  The 
mouth,  where  it  empties  into  the  river  Colbert,  is  two  hun- 
dred leagues  from  the  Akansa,  according  to  the  estimate  of 
the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  as  he  often  told  me;  or  two  hundred  and 
fifty,  according  to  Monsieur  de  Tonty,  and  those  who  accom- 


m..i 


iWl 


iliiH 


222 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  DOUAY. 


panied  him  in  his  eecund  voyage  to  the  eca,  not  that  it  is  that 
distance  in  a  straight  line  across  the  prairies,  but  following 
the  river  which  makes  great  turns,  and  winds  a  great  deal, 
for  by  land  it  would  not  be  more  than  five  days'  good  march, 

"We  crossed  the  Oiiabache  then  on  the  26th  of  August,  and 
found  it  full  sixty  leagues  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  IHnois, 
still  ascending  the  Colbert.  About  six  leagues  aboye  this 
mouth,  there  is  on  the  northwest  the  famous  river  of  the  Mas- 
sourites  or  Osages,  at  least  as  largo  as  the  river  into  which  it 
empties ;  it  is  formed  by  a  number  of  other  known  rivers, 
everywhere  navigable,  and  inhabited  by  many  populous 
tribes ;  as  the  Panimaha  who  had  but  one  chief  and  twenty- 
two  villages,  the  least  of  which  has  two  hundred  cabins ;  the 
Pancaesa,  the  Pana,  the  Paneloga,  and  the  Matotantcs,  each 
of  which,  separately,  is  not  inferior  to  the  Panimaha.  They 
include  also  the  Osages  who  have  seventeen  villages  on  a 
river  of  their  name,  which  empties  into  that  of  the  Massou- 
rites,  to  which  the  maps  have  also  extended  the  name  of 
Osages.  The  Akansas  were  formerly  stationed  on  the  upper 
part  of  one  of  these  rivers,  but  the  Iroquois  drove  them  out 
by  cruel  wars  some  years  ago,  so  that  they,  with  some  Osage 
villages,  were  obliged  to  drop  down  and  settle  on  the  river 
which  now  beara  their  name,  and  of  which  I  have  spoken. 

About  midway  between  the  river  Oiiabache  and  that  of  the 
Massourites  is  Cape  St.  Anthony.  It  was  to  this  place  only 
and  not  further  that  the  sieur  Joliet  descended  in  1673 ;  they 
were  there  taken,  with  their  whole  party,  by  the  Mansopela. 
These  Indians  having  told  them  that  they  would  be  killed  if 
they  went  fm'ther ;  they  turned  back,  not  having  descended 
lower  than  thirty  or  forty  leagues  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Ilinois'  river. 

I  had  brought  with  me  the  printed  book  of  this  pretended 


msCOVKRIEa    IN  THB  MI98I9SirPI  VALLKY. 


228 


discovery,  ftnd  1  iomnrkcd  all  nlong  my  ronto  that  tlicre  wjig 
not  a  word  of  truth  in  it.  Tt  is  said  that  ho  went  t\^  far  as  the 
Akansa,  and  that  he  was  obliged  to  return  for  fear  of  l)eing 
taken  by  the  Spaniards ;  and  yet  the  Akansa  asi^nred  us  that 
they  had  never  seen  any  Europeans  before  ]^Ioll^»ieur  de  la 
Salle.  It  is  said  tliat  they  saw  painted  monsters  that  tho 
boldest  woidd  have  difficulty  to  look  at,  and  that  there  was 
something  supernatural  about  them.  This  frightful  monster 
is  a  horse  painted  on  a  rock  with  matachia,*  and  some  other 
wild  beasts  made  by  the  Indians.  It  is  said  that  they  can 
not  be  reached,  and  yet  I  touched  them  without  difficulty. 
The  truth  is  that  tho  Miamis,  pursued  by  the  Matsigamea, 
having  been  drowned  in  the  river,  the  Indians  ever  since 
that  time  present  tobacco  to  these  grotesque  figures  whenever 
they  pass,  in  order  to  appease  the  manitou. 

I  would  not  be  inclined  to  think  that  the  sienr  Joliet 
avowed  the  printed  account  of  that  discovery  which  is  not,  in 
fact,  under  his  name,  and  was  not  published  till  after  the  first 
discovery  made  by  the  sieur  do  la  Salle.  It  would  be  easy 
to  show  that  it  was  printed  only  on  false  memoirs,  which  the 
author,  who  had  never  been  on  the  spot,  might  have  followed 
in  good  faith.f 

•  An  old  term  for  pnint  used  by  tho  Indians. 

f  In  this  short  possnge  a  henvy  charge  is  brought  ngainst  the  narrative  of 
Father  Marquette,  although  it  is  amusing  to  see  how  they  all,  in  denying  i(^ 
seem  to  have  dreaded  to  mention  bis  name,  as  though  his  injured  spirit  woidd 
have  been  evoked  by  the  word. 

As  Father  Anastasius  says  expressly,  that  there  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it, 
we  may  examine  the  grounds  which  he  adduces, 

1st.  It  was  not  published  till  after  the  discovery  made  by  La  Snlle.  This  is 
incorrect  Thevenot  published  Marquette's  journal  from  a  mutilated  copy,  in 
1681,  and  La  Salic  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  only  in  April,  1682, 
while  his  discovery  was  not  known  in  France  before  January,  1683. 

2d.  The  Arkansas  said  that  they  had  never  seen  any  European  before  La 
Salle.  Making  every  allowance  for  the  difficulty  of  conversing  with  a  tribe 
whose  language  was  utterly  unknown  to  him,  and  admitting  the  fact,  it  remains 


''  Jll  I 

llil 


M 


I' 


II 


llil 


liiiH 


224 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATHER   DOUAY. 


At  last,  on  the  5th  of  September,  we  ai-rived  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Ilinois'  river,  whence  they  reckon  at  least  a  hundred 
leagues  to  Fort  Crevecoeur,  the  whole  route  presenting  a  veiy 
easy  navigation.    A  Shawnee  named  Turpin,  having  per- 

to  show  that  the  Arkansas  whom  he  met,  were  the  same  as  those  visited  by 
Marqiiette.  Tiiia  does  not  appear  to  be  certain,  as  they  were  on  different  sides 
of  the  Mississippi. 

8d.  The  painted  rock,  of  which  he  exaggerates  and  refutes  Marquette's  ac- 
count. Now,  though  Father  Anastasius  had  the  book  of  the  pretended  discov- 
ery in  his  hand,  he  did  not  read  it  carefully.  Marquette  describes  a  rock  above 
the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  Anastasius  saw  another  below  the  moiith,  and  half 
•way  between  it  and  the  Ohio,  and,  ns  it  did  not  nnsAver  Marquette's  account^ 
there  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  his  book !  Joutel,  Avhose  work  appeared  only  in 
1*713,  avoid  this  difficulty,  whether  conscious  of  Douay's  error,  we  do  not  know. 
From  the  words  of  Father  Anastasius,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  they  never 
saw  Marquette's  rock ;  but  deceived  by  Tlievenot's  map  which  gives  a  figure 
and  the  word  Manitou  at  the  place  below  the  INIissouri,  which  Marquette  men- 
tions as  the  demon  of  the  Illinois,  mistook  it  for  the  painted  rock.  Here  as 
Father  Anastasius  tells,  some  Indians  actually  perished,  and  their  countrymen 
supposing  them  engulfed  by  some  demon,  propagated  the  belief  in  the  exist- 
ence of  one  there.  Tliis  worshipping  of  rapids  was  common,  and  several  cases 
are  mentioned  in  the  narratives  of  the  time.  As  to  the  exaggerations  made  of 
Marquette's  account,  a  moment's  examination  will  show  that  he  represented 
the  figures  he  saw  as  terrible  to  superstitious  Indians,  and  so  high  up  on  the  rock 
that  it  was  not  easy  to  get  up  there  to  paint  them.  His  estimate  of  the  skill  dis- 
played is,  indeed,  too  high ;  but  there  is  nothing,  beyond  this,  strange  in  his  ac- 
count. 

4th.  Last  of  all,  comes  his  positive  assertion  that  Marquette  and  Joliet  went 
only  as  far  as  Cape  St  Anthony,tliirty  or  forty  leagues  below  the  mouth  of  the 
Illinois.  For  this  he  gives  no  authority ;  but  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  found 
the  Mansopelas  there,  and  from  his  little  knowledge  of  the  Indians,  concluded 
that  being  there,  in  1687,  they  must  have  been  there  in  1673,  and  consequently, 
that  Marquette  went  no  further. 

Enough,  however,  is  here  admitted  to  convict  the  author  of  the  Etablissemont 
de  la  Foi  of  injustice  to  Marquette,  whom  he  never  names,  but  who,  even  by 
their  own  statements,  descended  the  Mississippi  to  the  Mansopelas,  many  years 
before  La  Salle's  expedition.  Yet  in  the  previous  part  of  the  work  no  mention 
at  all  is  made  of  this  voyage,  and  no  opportunity  passed  to  treat  it  as  pretended 
in  the  accounts  of  their  owr. 

Joutel,  whose  narrative  was  published  subsequently  to  this,  mentions  (See 
Hist,  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  i.,  p.  182)  Father  Marquette,  and  though  he  saw 
nothing  extraordinary  in  the  painted  figures,  does  not  make  any  of  the  charge* 
here  brought  by  his  companion  on  the  voyage  whom  he  contradicts  directly  on 
two  other  points. 


DI8COVEBIE8   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


225 


ceived  us  from  his  village,  ran  on  to  the  fort  to  carry  the 
news  to  the  sieur  de  Belle  Fontaine,  the  commander,  who 
would  not  credit  it ;  we  followed  close  on  the  Indian,  and 
entered  the  fort  on  the  14th  of  September.  "We  were  con- 
ducted to  the  chapel  where  the  Te  Deum  was  chanted  in 
thanksgiving,  amid  the  noise  and  volleys  of  the  French  and 
Indians  who  were  immediately  put  under  arms.  The  sieur 
de  Tonty,  the  governor  of  the  fort,  had  gone  to  the  Iroquois 
to  conciliate  the  minds  of  those  Indians,  we,  nevertheless,  re- 
ceived a  very  cordial  welcome ;  the  commandant  neglecting 
nothing  to  show  his  joy  at  our  arrival,  to  console  us  in  our 
misfortunes,  and  restore  us  after  ©ur  hardships. 

Although  the  season  was  advanced,  we  had,  nevertheless, 
set  out  in  hopes  of  reaching  Quebec  soon  enough  to  sail  to 
France ;  but  head-winds  having  detained  us  a  fortnight  at 
the  entrance  of  Lake  Dauphin,  we  had  to  give  it  over  and  win- 
ter at  the  fort,  which  we  made  a  mission  till  the  spring  of  1688. 

The  sieur  de  Tonty  arrived  there  at  the  beginning  of  win- 
ter with  several  Frenchmen  ;  this  made  our  stay  much  more 
agreeable,  as  this  brave  gentileman  was  always  inseparably 
attached  to  the  interests  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  whose  la- 
mentable fate  we  concealed  from  him,  it  being  our  duty  to 
give  the  first  news  to  the  court. 

He  told  us  that,  at  the  same  time  that  we  were  seeking  the 

river  Missisipi  by  sea,  he  had  made  a  second  voyage,  d,e- 

scending  the  river  with  some  French  and  Indians  to  the 

mouth,  hoping  to  find  us  there ;   that  he  remained  there  a 

week,  visited  all  the  remarkable  points,  and  remarked  that 

there  was  a  very  fine  port  with  a  beautiful  entrance,  and  wide 

channel ;  and,  also,  places  fit  for  building  forts,  and  not  at 

all  inundated  as  he  had  supposed,  when  he  descended  the 

first  time  with  the  sieur  de  la  Salle ;  adding,  that  the  lower 

15 


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226 


NAERATIVE   OF  FATHER  DOUAT. 


river  is  habitable  and  even  inhabited  by  Indian  villages ;  that 
ships  can  ascend  the  river  a  hundred  leagues  above  the  gulf; 
that,  besides  the  tribes  which  he  had  discovered  when  de- 
scending the  first  time,  he  had  seen  several  others  on  the 
second,  as  the  Picheno,  the  Ozanbogus,  the  Tangibao,  the 
Otonnica,  the  Mausopelea,  the  Mouisa,  and  many  others 
which  I  do  not  remember. 

Oar  conversations  together  confirmed  me  in  the  opinion  of 
the  sieur  de  la  Salle,  that  St.  Louis  bay  could  not  be  more 
than  forty  or  fift}'  leagues  from  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  arms 
of  the  river  Colbert  in  a  straight  line,  for  though  we  struck 
that  river  only  at  the  Akansa,  it  was  because  we  took  the  Ili- 
nois  route  acros"  the  country,  God  having  led  us  through 
these  parts  to  enable  us  to  discover  all  those  tribes  which 
dwell  there. 

I  had  remarked  one  hundred  and  ten  populous  nations  on 
my  route,  not  including  a  great  many  others  of  which  I  heard 
in  those  through  which  we  passed,  who  knew  them  either  in 
war,  or  in  trade.  The  greatest  part  of  these  tribes  are  un- 
known to  Europeans. 

These  are  the  finest  and  most  fertile  countries  in  the  world; 
the  soil,  which  there  produces  two  crops  of  every  kind  of 
grain  a  year,  being  ready  to  receive  the  plough.  From  time 
to  time  there  are  vast  prairies  where  the  grass  is  ten  or  twelve 
feet  high  at  all  seasons;  at  every  little  distance  there  are 
rivei-s  entering  larger  ones,  everywhere  navigable,  and  free 
from  rapids.  On  these  rivers  are  forests  fnll  of  every  kind  of 
trees,  so  distributed  that  you  can  everywhere  ride  through  on 
horseback. 

The  chase  is  so  abundant  and  easy,  especially  for  wild- 
cattle,  that  herds  of  thousands  are  discovered;  there  are  deer 
and  other  animals  of  the  stag  kind  in  numbers,  as  well  as 


DI8COVEBIE8  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


227 


turkeys,  bustards,  partridges,  parrots,  rabbits,  and  hares. 
Poultry  are  common  there,  and  produce  at  all  seasons,  and 
swine  several  times  a  year,  as  we  observed  at  the  settlement 
where  ^o  left  more  than  two  hundred. 

The  rivers  are  unusually  abundant  in  all  kinds  of  fish,  so 
much  80  that  we  took  them  at  the  foot  of  the  fort  with  our 
hands,  without  basket  or  net.  Our  people  one  day  took  away 
from  the  Indians  a  fish-head  which  was  alone  a  load  for  a 
man.  No  settler  arriving  in  the  country  will  not  find  at  first 
enough  to  support  plenteously  a  large  family,  or  will  not,  in 
two  years  time  be  more  at  his  ease  than  in  any  place  in 
Europe.  I  have  already  remarked  that  horses  for  every  use 
are  there  very  common,  the  Indians  thinking  themselves  well 
paid  when  they  get  an  axe  for  a  horse. 

The  commerce  might  be  very  great  there  in  peltries,  tobac- 
co, and  cotton.  Hemp  grows  very  fine ;  and  as  the  fields 
are  full  of  mulberry-trees  which  also  line  the  rivers,  silk 
might  be  raised  in  abundance.  Sugar-canes  would  succeed 
there  well,  and  could  be  easily  got  by  trade  with  the  "West 
Indies,  as  the  Europeans  nations  have  done  in  Terra-firma, 
where  they  are  neighbors  to  Louisiana.*    Besides,  the  great 

*  These  observations  from  which  Coxe  {Hist.  Coll.  of  Louisiana,  vol.  iii.,  pp. 
262-65),  doubtless,  took  a  hint,  entitle  Father  Douay  to  the  credit  of  pointing 
out  sources  of  wealth  to  Louisiana.  Cotton  and  sugar  are  already  staple  prod- 
ucts, and  silk  roay  soon  be.  The  valley  of  the  Mississippi  owes  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  sugar-cane  to  the  Catholic  missionaries,  for  the  Jesuits  brought  in 
some  plants  from  which  the  colony  was  supplied,  after  they  had  shown  in  their 
gardens  at  New  Orleans  how  successfully  it  could  be  raised.  The  same  mis- 
sionaries were  also  the  first  to  raise  wheat  in  Illinois,  and  engage  others  to  do 
so ;  as  one  of  their  lay-brothers  was  the  first  to  work  the  copper-mine  of  Lake 
Superior,  to  make  articles  for  the  church  of  Sault  St  Mary's.  In  the  east  they 
deserve  no  less  a  place  even  in  commercial  history ;  they  not  only  called  the 
attention  of  New  York  to  her  salt-springs,  and  brought  about  a  commercial  in- 
tercourse between  the  French  of  Canada,  and  the  English  and  Dutch  in  their 
colonies,  but,  by  showing  the  identity  of  our  ginseng  with  that  of  Tartary,  en- 
abled France  for  some  time  to  carry  on  a  very  lucrative  trade  with  China. 


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228 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  DOUAT. 


quantity  of  wool  which  the  cattle  of  the  countiy  are  loaded, 
the  vast  prairies  everywhere  afford  means  of  raising  flocks  of 
sheep,  which  produce  twice  a  year. 

The  various  accidents  that  befell  us,  prevented  our  search- 
ing for  the  treasures  of  this  countiy :  we  found  lead  quite 
pure,  and  copper  ready  to  work.  The  Indians  told  us  that 
there  were  rivers  where  silver  mines  are  found :  others  wished 
to  conduct  us  to  a  country  known  to  the  Spaniards,  abound- 
ing in  gold  and  silver  mines.  There  are  also  some  villages 
where  the  inhabitants  have  pearls,  which  they  go  to  seek  on 
the  seacoast  and  find,  they  say,  in  oysters. 

"We  found  few  nations  within  a  hundred  and  fifty  or  two 
hundred  leagues  of  the  sea,  who  are  not  prejudiced  against 
the  Spaniards  on  account  of  their  great  cruelty.  These  tribes 
are  all  populous ;  and  there  is  one  which,  in  war,  would  fur- 
nish as  many  as  five  thousand  men. 

The  shortness  of  our  stay  among  these  tribes  gave  us  no 
time  to  lay  solid  foundations  of  Christianity;  but  wo  re- 
marked good  dispositions  for  the  faith ;  they  are  docile,  char- 
itable, susceptible  of  good  impressions ;  there  is  even  some 
government  and  subordination,  savage  though  it  always  be. 
By  the  help  of  God,  religion  might  make  progress  there. 
The  sun  is  their  divinity,  and  they  offer  it  in  sacrifice  the  best 
of  their  chase  in  the  chiefs  cabin.  They  pray  for  half  an 
hour,  especially  at  sunrise ;  they  send  him  the  first  whiff  of 
their  pipes,  and  then  send  one  to  each  of  the  four  cardinal 
points. 

I  left  St.  Louis  bay  on  the  second  voyage  to  remain  among 
the  Coenis  and  begin  a  mission  there.  Here  Father  Zenobius 
was  to  join  me,  to  visit  the  neighboring  tribes  while  awaiting 
from  France  a  greater  number  of  gospel  laborers,  but  the 
melancholy  death  of  the  sieur  de  la  Salle  having  compelled 


DISCOVEBIES  m  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


229 


me  to  proceed,  Father  Zenobius  no  donbt  went  there  to  meet 
me,  and  is,  perhaps,  there  yet  with  Father  Maximus  (le 
Glercq),  having  left  M.  de  Ohefdeville  at  the  mission  in  the 
fort,  to  which  he  was  destined  at  our  departure.  There  were 
there  nine  or  ten  French  families,  and,  besides,  several  of  our 
people  had  gone  to  get  and  had  actually  married  Indian 
women  to  multiply  the  colony.  What  has  befallen  them 
since,  I  do  not  know. 

This,  adds  le  Glercq,  is  a  faithful  extract  of  what  Father 
Anastasius  could  remember  of  his  toilsome  voyage.  He  left 
the  Hinois  in  the  spring  of  1688,  with  M.  Cavelier,  his 
nephew,  the  sieur  Joustel,  and  an  Indian  now  domiciled  near 
Versailles.  They  arrived  at  Quebec  on  the  27th  of  July,  and 
sailed  for  France  on  the  20th  of  August,  where,  God  enabling 
them  to  be  still  together,  after  having  passed  through  so 
many  perils,  they  presented  on  account  of  all  to  the  ate  mar- 
quis of  Seignelay. 


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REGIT 


DES  VOYAGES  ET  DES  DECOUVERTES 


DU 


P.  JACQUES  MARQUETTE, 


DE  LA  COMPAGNIE  DE  JESUS  EN  L'ANNEE  1073.  ET  AUX  SUIVANTES. 


CHAPITEE   P"^ 


Du  Premier  Voyage  qu'afait  le  P.  Marquette  vera  le  Nouveau  Mexique  et  ecm- 
ment  s'en  estfonni  le  dessein. 

IL  y  avoit  longtemps  que  le  Pere  premeditoit  cette  entreprise, 
porte  d'lm  tres  ardent  desir  d'estendre  le  Royaume  de  J.  Ch.  et 
de  le  faire  connoistre  et  adorer  par  tous  les  peuples  de  ce  pays.  II  se 
voioit  comme  a  la  porte  de  ces  nouvelles  nations,  lorsque  des  I'annee 
1670,  il  travailloit  en  la  nnission  de  lapointe  du  St.  Esprit  qui  est  a 
I'exlremite  du  lac  Superieur  aux  Outaoiiacs,  il  voioit  mesme  quel- 
quefoia  plusieurs  de  ces  nouveaux  peuples,  desquels  il  prenoit  toutes 
les  connoissances  quil  pouvoil,  c'est  ce  qui  luy  a  fait  faire  plusieurs 
efforts  pour  commencer  cette  entreprise,  mais  tousiour  inutilement, 
et  mesme  il  avoit  perdu  I'esperance  d'en  venir  about  lorsque  Dieu 
luy  en  fit  naistre  cette  occasion. 

En  I'annee  1673,  M.  Le  Comte  de  Frontenac  nostre  gouverneur, 
et  M.  Talon  alors  nostre  Intendant,  connoissant  I'importance  de  cette 
decouverte,  soit  pour  chercher  un  passage  d'icy  jusqu'a  la  mer  de  la 
Chine,  par  la  riviere  qui  se  decharge  a  la  mer  Vermeille  au  Califor- 
nie,  soit  qu'on  voulu  s'asseurer  de  ce  qu'on  a  dit  du  depuis,  touchant 
les  2  Royaumes  de  Theguaio  et  de  Quivira,  limitrophes  du  Canada, 
ou  Ton  tient  que  les  mines  d'or  sont  abondantes,  ces  Messieurs,  dis- 


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232 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER   MARQUETTE. 


ie,  nommercnt  en  mesme  temps  pour  cette  entreprise  le  sieur  Jolyet 
quils  jugerent  tres  propres  pour  un  si  grand  dessein,  estant  bien  aise 
que  le  P.  Marquette  fut  de  le  partie. 

11  ne  se  tromperent  pas  dans  le  choix  quils  firent  du  sieur  Jolyet, 
car  c'estoit  un  jeune  homine  natif  de  ce  pays,  qui  a  pour  un  tcl  des- 
sein tous  les  advantages  qu'un  pent  souhaiter :  II  a  I'experience  et 
la  Connoissance  des  Langues  du  Pays  des  Outaoiiacs,  ou  il  a  passe 
plusieurs  annees,  il  a  la  conduitte  ct  la  sagcsse  qui  sont  les  princi- 
pales  parties  pour  faire  reussir  un  voyage  egalement  dangereux  et 
difficile.  Eniln  il  a  le  courage  pour  ne  rien  apprehender,  ou  tout 
est  a  craindre,  aussi  a-t-il  remply  I'attente  qu'on  avoit  de  luy,  et  si 
apres  avoir  passe  niille  sortos  de  dangers,  il  ne  fut  venu  malheur- 
eusement  faire  nauffrage  auport,  son  canot  ayant  tpurne  au  dessoubs 
du  Saidt  de  St.  Loiiys  proche  de  Montreal,  ou  il  a  perdu  et  ses 
homines  et  ses  papiers,  et  d'ou  il  n'a  eschape  que  par  une  espece  de 
miracle,  il  ne  lassoit  rien  a  souhaiter  au  succcz  de  son  voyage. 


SECTION  I. 

Depart  du  P.  Jacques  Marqtiette  pour  la  decmiverte  de  la  grande  Riviere  appellee 
par  les  sauvages  Missidpi  qai  conduit  au  Nauveau  Mexique. 

Le  jour  de  I'lmmaculee  Conception  de  la  Ste.  Vierge,  que  javois 
tousjcur  invoque  depuisque  je  suis  en  ce  pays  des  Outaoiiacs,  pour 
obtenir  de  Dieu  la  grace  de  pouvoir  visiter  les  nations  qui  sont  sur 
la  riviere  de  Missis-pi,  fut  justement  celuy  auquel  arriva  M.  JoUyet 
avec  les  ordres  de  M.  le  corate  de  Frontenac  nostre  gouvemeur  et 
de  M.  Talon  nostre  Intendant,  pour  faire  avec  moy  cette  decouverte. 
Je  fus  d'autant  plus  ravy  de  cette  bonne  nouvelle,  que  je  voiois  que 
mes  desseins  alloient  etre  accomplis  et  que  je  me  trouvois  dans  une 
heureuse  necessite  d'exposer  ma  vie  pour  le  salut  de  tous  ces  peuples 
et  particulierement  pour  les  Ilinois  qui  m'avoient  prie  avec  beaucoup 
d'instance  lorsque  j'estois  a  la  pointe  du  St.  Esprit  de  leur  porter 
chez  eux  la  parole  de  Dieu. 

Nous  ne  fusmes  pas  long  temps  a  preparer  tout  nostre  equippage 
quoyque  nous  nous  engageassions  en  un  voyage  dont  nous  ne  pouvions 
pas  prevoir  la  duree  ;  du  Bled  d'Inde  avec  quelque  viande  boucanee 
furent  toutes  nos  provisions,  avec  lesquelles  nous  nous  embarquam- 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


233 


mes  sur  3  cnnots  d'ecorce,  M.JoUyet  et  moy  avec  5  hommes,  bien 
resolus  a  lout  faire  et  a  tout  soufTrir  pour  une  si  glorieuse  enterprise. 

Ce  fut  done  le  I7e  jour  de  May,  1673,  que  nous  partimes  de  la 
mission  de  St.  Ignace  a  Michilimackinac,  ou  j'estois  pour  lors ;  la 
joye  que  nous  avions  d'etre  choisis  pour  cette  e?:pedition  animoit  nos 
courages  et  nous  rondoit  agreables  les  peines  que  nous  avions  a 
ramer  depuis  le  matin  jusqu'au  soir ;  et  parceque  nous  alliens  cher- 
cher  des  pays  inconnus,  nous  apportammes  toutes  les  precautions 
que  nous  pOmes,  aflinque  si  nostre  entreprise  estoit  hazardeuse  elle 
ne  fut  pas  temeraire  ;  pour  ce  sujet  nous  primes  toutes  les  connois* 
sances  que  nous  p6mes  des  sauvages  qui  avoient  frequente  ces  en- 
droicts  la  et  mesme  nous  tracames  sur  leur  raport  une  carte  de  tout 
ce  nouveau  pays,  nous  y  fimes  marquer  les  rivieres  sur  lesquelles 
nous  devions  naviger,  les  noms  des  peuples  et  des  lieux  par  lesquels 
nous  devions  passer,  le  cours  do  la  grande  riviere,  et  quels  rund 
devenl  nous  devions  tenir  quand  nous  y  serious. 

Surtout  je  mis  nostre  voyage  soubs  la  protection  de  la  Ste.  Vierge 
Immaculee,  luy  promettant  que  si  elle  nous  faisoit  la  grace  de  de- 
couvrir  la  grande  riviere,  je  luy  donnerois  le  nom  de  la  Conception 
et  que  je  ferois  aussi  porter  ce  nom  a  la  premiere  mission  que 
j'etablyrois  chez  ces  nouveaux  peuples,  ce  que  j'ay  fait  de  vray  chez 
les  Ilinois. 


SECTION   II. 

Ze  Fere  vitite  en  passant  les  Peuples  de  la  folic  avoine;  Ce  queerest  que  cette 
folle  avoine.  11  entre  dans  la  haye  des  Puants,  quelqves  particularitez  de  cette 
baye,  il  arrive  a  la  nation  dufeu. 

Avec  toutes  ces  precautions  nous  faisons  joiier  joyeusement  les 
nvirons,  sur  une  partie  du  Lac  Huron,  et  celuy  des  Ilinois,  et  dans  la 
baye  des  Puans. 

Le  premiere  nation  que  nous  rencontrJlmes,  fut  celle  de  la  folle 
avoine.  I'entray  dans  leur  riviere  pour  aller  visiter  ces  peuples  aus 
quels  nous  avons  presche  I'Evangile  depuis  plusieurs  annees,  aussi 
86  trouve-t-il  parmy  eux  plusieurs  bons  Chrestiens. 

La  folle  avoine  dont  ils  portent  le  nom,  parcequelle  se  trouve  sur 
leurs  terres  est  une  sorte  d'herbe  qui  croit  naturellement  dans  les 


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284 


KABBATIYE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


petites  rivieres  dont  le  fond  est  de  vase,  est  dans  les  lieux  mares- 
ageux ;  elle  est  bien  semblable  a  la  foUe  avoine  qui  croit  parmy  nos 
bleds.  Les  epics  sont  sur  des  tuyeaux  novics  d'espace  en  espace,  ils 
sortent  de  I'eau  vers  le  mois  de  juin  et  vont  tousjour  montant  jusqu'- 
acequils  surnagent  de  deux  pieds  environ  ;  Le  grain  n'est  pas  plus 
gros  que  celuy  de  nos  avoines,  mais  il  est  une  fois  plus  long,  aussi  la 
farine  en  est  elle  bien  plus  abondante.  Voicy  comme  les  sauvages 
la  cueillent  et  la  preparent  pour  la  manger.  Dans  le  mois  de  Sep- 
tembre  qui  est  le  terns  propro  pour  cette  recolte,  ils  vont  en  canot  au 
travers  de  ces  champs  de  folle  avoine,  ils  en  socoiieit  les  espies  de 
part  et  d'autre  dans  le  canot,  a  mesure  qu'ils  avancent ;  le  grain 
tombe  aisement  sil  est  meur,  et  en  peu  de  temps  «>>;  en  font  leur  pro- 
vision.  Mais  pour  le  nettoyer  de  la  paille  et  le  depouiller  d'une 
pellicule  dans  laquelle  il  est  enferm^,  ils  le  mettent  secher  a  la 
fumee,  sur  un  gril  de  bois  soubs  lequel  ils  entretiennent  un  petit  feu, 
pendant  quelques  jours,  et  lorsque  I'avoine  est  bien  seche,  ils  la 
mettent  dans  une  Peau  en  forme  de  pouche,  laquelle  ils  enfoncoul 
dans  un  trou  fait  a  ce  dessein  en  terre,  puis  ils  la  pillent  avec  les 
pieds,  tant  et  si  fortement  que  le  giuin  s'estant  separc  de  la  paille, 
ils  le  vannent  tres  ais6ment,,  apres  quoy  ils  le  pillent  pour  le  reduire 
en  farine ;  or  mesme  3ans  etre  pille  ils  le  font  cuire  dans  I'eau, 
qu'ils  assaisonnent  avec  de  la  graisse  et  de  cette  fa9on  on  trouve  la 
folle  avoine  presque  aussi  delicate,  qu'est  le  ris,  quand  on  n'y  met 
pas  de  meilleur  assaisonnement. 

Je  racontay  a  ces  peuples  de  la  folle  avoine,  le  dessein  que  j'avois 
d'aller  decouvrir  ces  nations  esloignees  pour  les  pouvoir  instruire 
des  mysteres  de  nostre  Ste.  Religion :  ils  en  furent  ex^remement 
surpris,  et  firent  tous  leur  possible  pour  m'en  dissiiader;  ils  mn 
representerent  que  je  rencontrerois  des  Nations  qui  ne  pardonnent 
jamais  aux  estrangers  ausquels  ils  cassent  la  teste  sans  aucun  sujet; 
que  la  guerre  qui  estoit  allumee  entre  divers  peuples  qui  estoicnt  sur 
nostre  Route  nous  exposoit  a  un  autre  danger  manifesto  d'estre  tuez 
par  les  bandes  de  guerriers  qui  sont  tousjours  en  campagne  ;  que  la 
grande  riviere  est  tres  dangereuse,  quand  on  n'en  scait  pas  les 
Endroicts  difficiles,  qu'elle  estoit  pleine  de  monstres  eiTroyables,  qui 
devoroient  les  hommes  et  les  canots  tout  ensemble  ;  qu'il  y  a  mesme 
un  demon  qu'on  entend  de  fort  loing  qui  en  ferme  le  passage  et  qui 
abysme  ceux  qui  osent  en  approcher,  eniin  que  les  chaleurs  sont  si 
excessives  en  ces  pays  la  qu'elles  nous  causeroient  la  mort  infaillible- 
ment. 


DIBOOVEBIES  IN  TUE  MIS8ISSIPFI  VALLEY. 


ii 


Je  les  remerciay  de  ces  bona  advis  qu'ils  me  donnoU,  maia  jo  leur 
dis  que  je  ne  pouvois  pas  les  suivre,  puisqu'il  s'agissoit  du  salut  des 
ames  pour  lesquelles  je  serois  ravy  de  donner  ma  vie,  quo  je  me 
moquois  de  ce  demon  pretendu,  que  nous  nous  deflfenderions  bien  de 
ces  monstres  marins,  et  qu'au  resto  nous  nous  tienderions  sur  nos 
gardes  pour  eviter  les  autres  dangers  dont  ils  nous  mena^oient. 
Apres  les  avoir  fait  prior  Dieu  et  leur  avoir  donnu  quelque  Instruc- 
tion, je  me  separay  d'eux,  et  nous  estant  embarquez  sur  nos  canots 
nous  arriv^mes  peu  de  temps  apres  dans  le  fond  de  la  Baye  des 
Puantz,  ou  nos  Peres  travaillent  utilement  a  la  conversion  de  ces 
peuples,  en  ayant  baptise  plus  de  deux  mille  depuis  qu'ils  y  sont. 

Cotte  baye  porte  un  nom  qui  n'a  pas  une  si  mauvaise  signification 
en  la  langue  des  sauvages,  car  ils  Tappellent  plustost  la  baye  sallce 
que  la  Baye  des  Puans,  quoyque  parmy  eux  ce  soit  presque  le  mes- 
me,  et  c'est  aussi  le  nom  qu'ils  donnent  a  la  mer ;  cequi  nous  a  fait 
faire  de  tres  exactes  recherches  pour  decouvrir  s'il  n'y  avoit  pas  en 
ces  quartiers  quelques  fontaines  d'eau  sallee,  comme  il  y  en  a  parmy 
les  liiroquois  ;  mais  nous  n'en  avons  pas  trouve  nous  jugeons  done 
qu'on  luy  a  donne  ce  nom  a  cause  de  quantite  de  vase  et  de  Boiie, 
qui  s'y  rencontre,  d'ou  s'eslevent  continuellement  de  meschantes 
vapeurs  qui  y  causent  les  plus  grands  et  les  plus  continuels  Tonner- 
res,  quo  j'aye  iamais  entendu. 

La  Baye  a  environ  trente  lioiies  de  profondeur  et  huict  de  large 
en  son  commencement ;  elle  va  tousjour  so  retrecissant  jusques  dans 
le  fond,  ou  il  est  aise  de  remarquer  la  maree  qui  a  son  flux  et  reflux 
regie  presque  comme  celuy  de  la  Mer.  Ce  n'est  pas  icy  le  lieu 
d'examiner  si  ce  sont  des  vrayes  marees  ;  si  elles  sont  causees  par 
les  vents  ou  par  quelqu'autre  principe  ;  s'il  y  a  des  vents  qui  sont  les 
avant-coureurs  de  la  Lune  et  attachez  a  sa  suitte.lesquelspar  conse- 
quent agitent  le  lac  et  luy  donnent  comme  son  flux  et  reflux  toutes 
les  fois  que  la  Lune  monte  sur  I'horison.  Ce  que  je  peux  dire  de 
certain  est  que  quand  I'eau  est  bien  calme,  on  la  voit  aisement  montcr 
et  descendre  suivant  le  cours  de  la  lune,  quoyqne  je  ne  nie  pas  que 
ce  mouvement  ne  puisse  estre  cause  par  les  ventz  qui  sont  bien 
eloignez  et  qui  pesant  sur  le  milieu  du  lac  font  que  les  bords  crois- 
sent  et  decroissent  de  la  faqon  qui  paroit  a  nos  yeux. 

Nous  quittames  cette  baye  pour  entrer  dans  la  riviere  qui  s'y 
decharge ;  elle  est  tres  belle  en  son  embouchure  et  coulo  douce- 
ment ;  elle  est  pleine  d'outardes,  de  Canards,  de  cercelles  et  d'autres 
oyseaux  qui  y  sont  attirez  pur  la  folic  avoine,  dont  ils  sont  fort  frians, 


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NARRATIVE  OF  FATIIKtt  MARQUETTE. 


mais  quand  on  a  un  pen  nvancu  clans  cette  riviere,  on  la  trom'o  trea 
diHicile,  tnnt  a  cau80  des  cournnts  quo  dos  HochoH  aOil^tes,  qui  coup- 
pent  lea  canots  et  les  picds  de  ceux  qui  sonl  obligds  de  les  traisner, 
surtout  quand  les  eaux  sont  bnHHCs.  Nous  frnnchtmes  pourtant 
heureusement  ces  rapidcset  en  approchant  do  MachkouteuH,  lo  nation 
du  feu.jeula  curiosito  de  boire  des  eaux  mineralles  de  la  riviere  qui 
n'ost  pas  loing  de  cette  bourgade,  je  pris  aussi  le  temps  de  recon- 
noistre  un  simple  qu'un  sauvage  qui  en  scait  le  secret  a  enseignd  au 
P.  Alloiies  avec  bcaitcoup  de  ceremonies.  Sa  racine  sert  contre  la 
morsure  des  serpents,  Dieu  ayant  voulu  donner  ce  remede  contre  un 
venin  qui  est  tres  frequent  en  ces  pays.  Ella  est  fort  chaude,  et 
elle  a  un  gout  de  poudre  qunnd  on  I'escrase  sous  la  dent ;  il  faut  la 
mascher  et  la  mettre  sur  la  piquurro  du  serpent,  qui  en  a  uno  si 
grande  horreur,  qu'il  s'enfuit  mesme  de  celuy.qui  s'en  est  frott6,  elle 
produit  plusieurs  tiges,  hautes  d'un  pied,  dont  la  feuille  est  un  peu 
longue  et  la  fleur  blanche  et  beaucoup  seinblablo  a  la  giroilce.  J'en 
mis  dans  mon  canot  pour  Texaminer  a  loisir  pendant  que  nous  avan- 
cions  tousjour  vers  Maskoutens,  ou  nous  arrivumes  le  7  de  Juin. 


SECTION  III. 

Deteription  de  la  Bourgade  de  Maskoutenn,  Cequi  iy  paita  entre  le  Pere  et  les 
aauvagea ;  Leu  Frarifoia  commenccnt  d'entrer  dan$  un  Payt  nouveau  et  inconnu 
et  arrivent  a  Miasispi, 

Nous  voicy  rendus  a  Maskoutens.  Ce  mot  en  Algonquin  peut 
signifier,  nation  du  feu ;  aussi  est  ce  le  nom  qu'on  luy  a  donne. 
C'est  ici  le  terme  des  decouvertes  qu'ont  fait  les  Fran9ois,  car  lis 
n'ont  point  encore  passe  plus  avant. 

Ce  Bourg  est  compose  de  trois  sortes  de  Nations  qui  8*y  sc^it 
ramassees,  des  Miamis,  des  Maskoutens,  et  des  Kikabous.  Les  pre- 
miers sont  les  plus  civils,  les  plus  liberaux,  et  les  mieux  faitz ;  ils 
portent  deux  longues  moustaches  sur  les  oreilles,  qui  leur  donnent 
bonne  grace,  ils  passent  pour  les  guerriers,  et  font  rarement  des 
parties  sans  succez ;  ils  sont  fort  deciles,  ils  escoutent  paisiblement 
ce  qu'on  leur  dit  et  ont  paru  si  avides  d'entendre  le  P.  Alloiies  quand 
il  les  instruisoit,  qu'ils  luy  donnoient  peu  de  repos,  mesme  pendant 
la  nuict.    Les  Maskoutens  et  les  Kikabous  sont  plus  grossiers  et 


,i"tri 


DISCOVERIES    IN   THE   MI88I88IPPI   VALLEY. 


237 


aemblent  etro  ilea  paysantz  en  cninparaison  iIoh  autroH.  Coinmu  los 
Escorces  a  faire  dcM  cabannos  soiit  rnrca  en  co  pays  In,  ila  hv  Her- 
vent  do  joncs  qui  lour  tionnont  lieu  de  inurnilloH  et  do  couvorturcH, 
mais  qui  ne  les  deiTendant  pas  benucoup  doa  veiita,  ot  bien  mollis  dos 
pluyes  quand  olles  tombniit  on  abundance.  La  comniudiui  do  com 
sortes  de  cabannes  est  qu'llM  lea  incttenl  on  pacquetz  et  lea  purtent 
aisomont  ou  ils  voulcnt  pendant  lo  tomps  do  lour  chasse. 

Lorsque  je  les  visitay.jo  fus  «\tremement  conaolo  de  veoir  une 
belle  croix  phintuo  au  milieu  du  bourg  et  orii6e  de  plusieurs  penux 
blancbus,  de  ceinturca  rouges  d'nrcs  ot  do  flochcs  quo  cos  bonnea  ^ens 
avoicnt  uilertz  au  grand  Manitou  (c'ostlenum  qu'ila  donnunt  a  Diou), 
pour  le  romercior  de  cc  qifil  avoit  ou  pitio  d'eux  pendant  I'liyver, 
lour  dunnant  une  chasso  abundanto,  lursqu'iia  approndoient  lo  plua  la 
famine. 

Je  pris  plaiair  de  veoir  la  situation  de  cette  bourgade,  elle  est  belle 
et  bion  divertissante ;  car  d'uno  oinincnco,  sur  laquelle  olio  est 
placce,  on  decouvre  do  toutcs  parts  dos  prairies  a  porto  do  veiie, 
partageea  par  des  bocages  ou  par  des  bois  do  haute  futaye.  La 
terro  y  est  tros  bonne  ot  rend  bcaucoup  do  bled  d'inde  ;  les  sauvnges 
ramassent  quantite  de  prunes  et  do  raisins,  dont  on  pourroit  faire 
beaucoupdo  vin  ai  Ton  vouloit. 

Nous  ne  fumes  pas  plustost  arrivoz  quo  nous  assembl^mes  les 
anciens  M.  Joelyet  etmoy,  il  lour  dit  qu'il  estoit  envoye  de  la  part  de 
raonsr.  nostre  gouverneur  pour  dccouvrir  de  nouvoaux  pays  et  moi 
de  la  part  de  Dieu  pour  les  esclairer  des  lumieres  du  St.  Evangile ; 
qu'au  resie  le  maistre  souverain  de  nos  vies  vouloit  estre  connu  de 
toutes  les  nations,  et  que  pour  obeir  a  ses  volontes,  je  ne  craignois 
pas  la  inort  a  la  quelle  je  m'exposois  dans  des  voyages  si  perilleux ; 
que  nous  avions  besoin  de  deux  guides  pour  nous  mettre  dans  nostre 
route  ;  nous  leur  fimes  un  present,  en  les  priant  de  nous  les  accor- 
der,  CO  qu'ils  firent  tres  civilement  et  mesme  voulurent  aussi  nous 
parlor  par  un  present  qui  fut  uno  nato  pour  nous  servir  de  lit  pendant 
tout  nostre  voyage. 

Le  lendomain  qui  fut  le  dixieme  de  Juin,  deux  Miamis  qu'on 
nous  donna  pour  guides  s'embarquerent  avec  nous,  a  la  veue  d'un 
grand  monde  qui  ne  pouvoit  assez  s'estonner  de  veoir  sept  fran9ois, 
seuls  et  dans  deux  canotz  oser  entreprendre  une  expedition  si  ex- 
tresordinaire  et  si  hazardeuse. 

Nous  scavions  qu'a  trois  lieiis  de  Maskoutens  estoit  une  riviere 
qui  se  d^charge  dans  Missispi ;    nous  scavions  encor  que  le  rund  de 


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238 


NAEBATIVE   OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


vent  que  nous  devions  tenir  pour  y  arriver  estoit  I'ouest  soroiiest, 
mais  le  chemin  est  partage  de  tant  de  marais  et  de  petitz  lacs,  qu'il 
est  aise  de  s'y  egarer  d'autant  plus  que  la  riviere  qui  y  mene  est  si 
chargee  de  tblle  avoine,  qu'on  a  peine  a  en  reconnoistre  le  canal ; 
c'est  en  quoy  nous  avions  bien  besoin  de  nos  deux  guides,  aussi 
nous  conduisirent  ils  heureusement  jusqua  un  portage  de  2,700  pas  et 
nous  aiderent  a  transporter  nos  canotz  p<.)ur  entrer  dans  celte  riviere, 
apres  quoy  ils  s'en  retournerent  nous  laissant  seuls  en  ce  pays  in- 
connu,  entre  les  mains  de  la  providence. 

Nous  quittons  done  les  eaux  qui  vont  jusqua  Quebeq  a  400  ou  500 
licues  d'icy  pour  prendre  celles  qui  nous  conduiront  desormais  dans 
les  terres  estrangeres.  Avant  que  de  nous  y  embarquer,  nous  com- 
menQames  tous  ensemble  une  nouvelle  devotion  a  la  Ste.  Vierge  Ira- 
maculee  que  nous  pratiquames  tous  les  jours,  luy  addressant  des 
prieres  particulieres  pour  mettre  sous  sa  protection  et  nos  personnes 
et  le  succez  de  nostre  voyage  et  apres  nous  estre  encourages  les  uns 
les  autres  nous  montons  en  canot. 

La  riviere  sur  laquelle  nous  nous  embarqudmes  s'appelle  Mes- 
kousing.  Elle  est  fort  large,  son  fond  est  du  sable,  qui  fait  diverses 
battures  lesquelles  rendent  cette  navigation  tres  difficile ;  elle  est 
pleine  d'isles  couvertes  de  vignes  ;  sur  les  bords  paroissent  de  bonnes 
terres,  entremeslees  de  bois,  de  prairies  et  de  costeaux,  on  y  voit 
des  chesnes,  des  noiers,  des  bois  blancs  et  une  autre  espece  d'arbres, 
dontz  les  branches  sont  armees  de  longues  espines.  Nous  n'avons 
vu,ni  gibier  ni  poisson,  mais  bien  des  chevreuils  et  des  vaches  en 
assez  grande  quantite.  Nostre  route  estoit  au  suroiiest  et  apres 
avoir  navige  environ  30  lieiies,  nous  apperceiimes  un  endroit  qui 
avoit  toutes  les  apparences  de  mine  de  fer,  et  de  fait  un  de  nous  qui  en 
a  veu  autrefois  assure  que  celle  que  nous  avons  trouve  est  fort  bonne 
et  tres  abondante  ;  elle  est  couverte  de  trois  pieds  de  bonne  terre, 
assez  proche  d'une  chaine  de  rocher,  dont  le  bas  est  plein  de  fort 
beau  bois.  Apres  40  lieiies  sur  cette  mesme  route  nous  arrivons  a 
I'embouchure  de  nostre  riviere  et  nous  trouvant  a  42  degrez  et  de- 
my d'eslevation,  nous  entrons  heureusement  dans  Misissipi  le  17® 
Juin  avec  une  joye  que  je  ne  peux  pas  expliquer. 


i!"f'l 


DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


239 


SECTION    IV. 

De  la  grande  Riviere  appcUe  Missisipi,  les  plus  notables  particularitts. — De 
divers  animavx  et  particuliercmenf.  hs  Pisikious  ou  boevfs  sauvages,  leiir  figure 
et  leur  naturcl. — Des  premiers  villages  des  llinois  on  les  Francois  arrivent. 

Nous  voyla  done  sur  cette  riviere  si  renommee  dont  iay  tache 
d'en  remarquer  attentivement  toutes  les  singularites ;  la  riviere  de 
Missisipi  tire  son  origine  de  divers  lacs  qui  sont  dans  le  pays  des 
peuples  du  nord  ;  elle  est  estroitte  a  sa  decharge  de  Miskous.  Son 
courant  qui  porte  du  coste  du  sud  est  lent  et  paisible.  A  la  droitte 
on  voist  une  grande  chaisne  de  montagnes  fort  hautes  et  a  la  gauche 
de  belles  terres  ;  elle  est  coupee  d'isles  en  divers  endroictz.  En 
sondant  nous  avons  trouves  dix  brasses  d'eau,  sa  largeur  est  fori 
inegale,  elle  a  quelquefois  trois  quartz  de  lieiies,  et  quelquefois  elle 
se  retressit  jusqua  trois  arpens.  Nous  suivons  doucement  son  cours, 
qui  va  au  sud  et  au  sud  est  jusqu'aux  42  degres  d'elevation,  C'est 
icy  que  nous  nous  appercevons  bien  qu'elle  a  tout  change  de  face. 
II  n'y  a  presque  plus  de  bois  ny  de  montagnes,  les  isles  sont  plus 
belles  et  couvertes  de  plus  beaux  arbres ;  nous  ne  voions  que  des 
chevreils  et  des  vaches,  des  outardes  et  des  cygnes  sans  aisles,  par- 
cequ'ils  quittent  leurs  plumes  en  ce  pays.  Nous  rencontrons  de 
temps  en  temps  des  poissons  monstrueux,  un  desquels  donna  si  rude- 
ment  conlre  nostre  canot,  que  je  crd  que  c'estoit  un  gros  arbre  qui 
I'alloit  mettre  en  pieces.  Une  autrefois  nous  apperceumes  sur  I'eau 
un  monstre  qui  avoit  une  teste  de  tigre,  le  nez  pointu  comme  celuy 
d'un  chat  sauvage,  avec  la  barbe  et  des  oreilles  droittes  elevees  en 
haut,  la  teste  estoit  grize  et  le  col  tout  noir,  nous  n'en  vismes  pas 
davantage.  Quand  nous  avons  jette  nos  retz  a  I'eau  nous  avons  pris 
des  esturgeons  et  une  espece  de  poisson  fort  extresordinaire,  il  res- 
semble  a  la  truitte  avec  cette  difference,  qu'il  a  la  gueule  plus  grande, 
il  a  proche  du  nez  (qui  est  plus  petit  aussi  bien  que  les  yeux)  une 
grande  areste,  comme  un  bust  de  femme,  large  de  trois  doigts,  long 
d'une  coudee,  aubout  de  laquelle  est  un  rond  large  comme  la  main, 
Cela  I'oblige  souvent  en  saultant  hors  de  I'eau  de  tomber  en  derriere. 
Estant  descendus  jusqua  41  degres  28  minuittes  suivant  le  mesmo 
rund,  nous  trouvons  que  les  cocs  d'inde  ont  pris  la  place  du  gibier  et 
les  pisikious  ou  bceufs  sauvages  celles  des  autres  bestes. 


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240 


NARRATIVE   OF   FATHER   MARQUETTE. 


Nous  les  appelons  boeufs  sauvages  parcequ'ils  sont  bien  semblables 
a  nos  boeufs  domestiques,  ils  ne  sont  pas  plus  longs,  mais  ils  sont 
pres  d'une  fois  plus  gros  et  plus  corpulentz ;  nos  gens  en  ay  ant  Hue 
un,  trois  personnes  avoient  bien  de  la  peine  a  le  remiier.  lis  ont  la 
teste  forte  grosse,  le  front  plat  et  large  d'un  pied  et  demy  entre  les 
comes  qui  sont  entierement  semblables  a  celles  de  nos  boeufs,  mais 
elles  sont  noires  et  beaucoup  plus  grande.  Ils  ont  sous  le  col  comme 
line  grande  falle,  qui  pend  en  bas  et  sur  le  dos  une  bosse  assez 
elevee.  Toute  la  teste,  la  col  et  une  partie  des  espaules  sont  cou- 
vertz  d'un  grand  crin  comme  celuy  des  chevaux,  c'est  une  hure  longue 
d'un  pied,  qui  les  rend  liideux  et  leur  tombant  sur  les  yeux  les 
empeche  de  voire  devant  eux.  Le  reste  du  corps  est  revetu  d'un 
gros  poil  frise  a  peu  pres  come  celuy  de  nos  moutons,  mais  bien 
plus  fort  et  plus  espais,  il  tor.ibe  en  este  et  la  peau  devient  douce 
comme  du  velours.  C'est  pourlors  que  les  sauvages  les  employent 
pour  s'en  faire  de  "chiles  Robbes  qu'ils  peignent  de  diverses  couleurs; 
la  chair  et  la  graisse  des  pisikious  est  excellente  et  fait  le  meilleur 
mets  des  festins.  Aureste  ils  sont  tres  mediants  et  il  ne  se  passent 
point  d'annee  qu'ils  ne  tuent  quelque  sauvage ;  quand  on  vient  les 
attaquer,  ils  prennent  e'ils  peuvent  un  homme  avec  leurs  cornes, 
I'enlevent  en  I'air,  puis  ils  le  jettent  centre  terre,  le  foulent  des  pieds  et 
le  tuent.  Si  on  tire  de  loing  sur  eux  ou  de  Tare  au  du  fusil,  il  faut  si 
tost  apres  le  coup  se  jetter  a  terre  et  se  cacher  dans  I'herbe,  car  s'ils 
apercoivent  celuy  qui  a  tire,  ils  courent  apres  et  le  vont  attaquer. 
Comme  ils  ont  les  pieds  gros  et  assez  courtz,  ils  ne  vont  pas  bien 
viste  pour  I'ordinaire,  si  ce  n'est  lorsqu'ils  sont  irritez.  Ils  sont 
espars  dans  les  prairies  comme  des  troupeaux;  j'en  ay  veu  une  bande 
de  400. 

Nous  avancons  tousjours  mais  comme  nous  ne  s§avions  pas  oil 
nous  alliens  ayant  fait  deia  plus  de  cent  lieiies  sans  avoir  rien  de- 
couvert  que  des  bestes  et  des  oyseaux  nous  nous  tenons  bien  sur  nos 
gardes ;  c'est  pourquoy  nous  ne  faisons  qu'un  petit  feu  a  terre  sur  le 
soir  pour  preparer  nos  repas  et  apres  souper  nous  nous  en  eloignons 
le  plus  que  nous  pouvons  et  nous  allons  passer  la  nuict  dans  nos 
canotz  que  nous  tenons  a  I'ancre  sur  la  riviere  assez  loing  des  bords  ; 
ce  qui  n'empeche  pas  que  quelqu'un  denous  ne  soit  tousjour  en  sen- 
tinelle  de  peur  de  surprise,  AUant  par  le  sud  et  le  sud  suroiiest  nous 
nous  trouvons  a  la  hauteur  de  41  degrez  et  jusqua40  degrez  quelques 
minutes  en  partie  par  sudest  et  en  partie  par  le  suroiiest  apres  avoir 


Il'll 


::tl| 


DISCOVEBIES    IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


241 


avance  plus  de  60  lieiies  depuis  nostre  entree  dans  la  Riviere  sans 
rien  decouvrir. 

Enfin  le  25e  Juin  nous  apercetimes  sur  le  bord  de  I'eau  des  pistes 
d'hommes,  et  un  petit  sentier  assez  battu,  qui  entroit  dans  une  belle 
prairie.  Nous  nous  arrestames  pour  I'examiner,  et  jugeant  que 
cestoit  un  cliemin  qui  conduisoit  a  quelque  village  de  sauvages,  nous 
primes  resolution  de  I'aller  reconnoistre :  nous  laissons  done  nos 
deux  canotz  sous  la  garde  de  nos  gens,  leur  recommandant  bien  de 
ne  se  pas  laisser  surprendre,  apres  quoy  M.  Jollyet  et  moy  entre- 
prlines  cette  decouverte  assez  hazardeuse  pour  deux  homnies  seuls 
qui  s'exposent  a  la  discretion  d'nn  peuple  barbare  et  inconnu.  Nous 
suivons  en  silence  ce  petit  sentier  et  apres  avoir  fait  environ  2 lieiies, 
nous  decouvrimes  un  village  sur  le  bord  d'une  riviere, et  deux  autres 
sur  un  costeau  escarle  du  premier  d'une  demi  lieiie  Ce  fut  pour  lors 
que  nous  nous  recommanddmes,  a  Dieu  de  bon  cceur  et  ayant  ini- 
plore  son  secours  nous  pass&mes  outre  sans  etre  dccouverts  et  nous 
vinsmes  si  pres  que  nous  entendions  mesme  parler  les  sauvages. 
Nous  crumes  done  qu'il  estoit  temps  de  nous  decouvrir,  ce  que  nous 
fisme'  par  un  cry  que  nous  poussames  de  toutes  nos  forces,  en  nous 
arrestant  sans  plus  avancer.  A  ce  cry  les  sauvages  sortent  prompte- 
ment  de  leurs  cabanes  et  nous  ayant  probablement  reconnus  pour 
fran^ois,  surtout  voyant  une  robe  noire,  ou  du  moins  n'ayant  aucun 
suject  de  defliance,  puisque  nous  n'estions  que  deux  hommes,  et  que 
nous  les  avions  advertis  de  nostre  arrivee,  ils  deputerent  quattre  viel- 
liards,  pour  nous  venir  parler,  dontz  deux  portoient  des  pipes  a  pren- 
dre du  tabac,  bien  ornees  et  empanachees  de  divers  plumages,  ils 
marchoient  a  petit  pas,  et  elevant  leurs  pipes  vers  le  soleil,  ils  sem- 
bloient  luy  presenter  a  fumer,  sans  neamoins  dire  aucun  mot.  Ils 
furcnt  assez  long  temps  a  faire  le  peu  de  chemin  depuis  leur  village 
jusqu'a  nous.  Enfin  nous  ayant  abordes,  ils  s'arresterent  pour  nous 
considerer  avec  attention ;  je  me  rassuray,  voyant  ces  ceremonies, 
que  ne  se  font  parmy  eux  qu'entre  amys,  et  bien  plus  quand  je  les  vis 
couvertz  d'estoffe,  jugeant  par  laqu'ils  estoient  de  nos  alliez.  Je  leur 
parlay  done  le  premier  et  je  leur  demanday,  qui  ils  estoient,  ils  me 
repondirent  qu'ils  estoient  Ilinois  et  pour  marque  de  paix  ils  nous 
presenterent  leur  pipe  pour  petuner,  ensuitle  ils  nous  inviterent 
d'entrer  dans  leur  village,  oil  tout  le  peuple  nous  attendoit  avec  im- 
patience. Ces  pipes  a  prendre  du  tabac  s'appellent  en  ce  pays  des 
calumetz ;  ce  mot  sy  est  mis  tellement  en  usage,  que  pour  estre  en- 
tendu  je  seray  oblige  de  m'en  servir  ayant  a  en  parler  bien  des  fois. 


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242 


NABBATIVB  OF  FATHER  MABQUETTB. 


SECTION    V. 


Comment  Us  llinois  receurent  le  Pere  dant  leur  Bourgade, 

A  LA  porte  de  la  cabane  od  nnus  devions  estie  receus,  estoit  un 
vielliard  qui  nous  attendoit  dans  une  posture  assez  surprenante,  qui  est 
la  cereinonie  qu'ils  gardent  quand  ils  recoivent  des  estrangers.  Get 
homme  estoit  debout  et  tout  nud, tenant  ses  mains  estendus  et  levees 
vers  le  soleil,  comme  s'il  eut  voulu  se  deflendre  de  ses  rayons,  les- 
quels  neamoins  passoient  sur  son  visage  entre  ses  doigts ;  quand 
nous  fusmes  proches  de  luy,  il  nous  fit  ce  compliment ;  que  le  soleil 
est  beau,  fran9ois,  quand  tu  nous  viens  visiter,  tout  nostre  bourg 
t'attend,  et  tu  entreras  en  paix  dans  toute  nns  cabanes.  Cela  dit,  il 
nous  introduisit,  dans  la  sienne,  ou  il  y  avoit  une  foule  de  monde  qui 
nous  devoroit  des  yeux,  qui  cependant  gardoit  un  profond  silence, 
on  entendoit  neamoins  ces  paroles  qu'on  nous  addressoit  de  temps  en 
temps  et  d'une  voix  basse,  que  voyla  qui  est  bien,  mes  freres,  de  ce 
que  vous  nous  visitez. 

Apres  que  nous  eusmes  pris  place,  on  nous  fit  la  civilite  ordinaire 
du  pays,  qui  est  de  nous  presenter  le  calumet ;  il  ne  faut  pas  le 
refuser,  si  on  ne  vent  passer  pour  ennemy,  ou  du  moins  pour  in- 
civil,  pourveu  qu'<m  fasse  semblant  de  fumer,  c'est  assez ;  pendant 
que  tons  les  anciens  petunoient  apres  nous  pour  nous  honorer,  on 
vient  nous  inviter  de  la  part  du  grande  capitaine  de  tous  les  llinois 
de  nous  transporter  en  sa  Bourgade,  ou  il  vouloit  tenir  conseil  avec 
nous.  Nous  y  allames  en  bonne  compagnie,  car  tous  ces  peuples, 
qui  n'avoient  jamais  veu  de  fran^ois  chez  eux  ne  se  lassoient  point 
de  nous  regarder,  ils  se  couchoient  sur  I'herbe  le  long  des  chemins, 
ils  nous  devan9oient,  puis  ils  retournoient  sur  leurs  pas  pour  nous 
venir  voir  encor.  Tout  cela  se  faisoit  sans  bruit  et  avec  les  marques 
d'un  grand  respect  qu'ils  avoient  pour  nous. 

Estant  arrivez  au  Bourg  du  grand  Capitaine,  nous  le  vismes  a 
I'entree  de  sa  cabanne,  au  milieu  de  deux  vielliards,  tout  trois  debout 
et  nud  tenant  leur  calumet  tourne  vers  le  soleil,  il  nous  harangua  en 
peu  de  motz,  nous  felicitant  de  nostre  arriveo,  il  nous  presenta  en- 
suitte  son  calumet  et  nous  fit  fumer,  en  mesme  temps  que  nous 
entrions  dans  sa  cabanne,  oil  nous  receumes  toutes  leurs  caresses 
ordinaires. 


•"I''  'I 


DISC0VERIK8  IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLtii*. 


243 


Voyant  tout  le  monde  assemble  et  dans  le  silence,  je  leur  parlay 
par  qui'ttre  presents  que  je  leur  fis,  par  le  premier  je  leur  disois  que 
nous  marchions  en  paix  puur  visiter  les  nations  qui  s'etuient  sur  la 
riviere  jusqu'a  la  mer ;  par  le  second  je  leur  declaray  que  Dieu  qui 
les  a  crees  avoit  pitie  d'eux,  puisqu'apres  tant  de  temps  qu'ils  I'ont 
ignore,  il  vouloit  se  faire  connoistre  a  tous  ces  peuples,  que  jestois 
envoye  de  sa  part  pour  ce  dessein,  que  c'estoit  a  eux  a  le  reconnois- 
tre  et  a  luy  obeir.  Par  le  troisieme  que  le  grand  capitaine  des  fran* 
<jois  leur  faisoit  s(,'avoir  que  c'estoit  luy  qui  mettoit  la  paix  partout  et 
qui  avoit  dompte  llroquois.  Eniin  par  le  quatrieme  nous  les  prions 
de  nous  donner  toutes  les  connoissances  qu'ils  avoient  de  la  mer,  et 
des  nations  par  lesquelles  nous  devions  passer  pour  y  arriver. 

Quand  jeu  finy  mon  discour,  le  capitaine  se  leva,  et  tenant  le  main 
sur  la  teste  d'un  petit  esclave  qu'il  nous  vouloit  donner  il  par  la 
ainsi.  le  te  remercie  Robe  Noire,  et  toy  franqois  (s'addressant  a 
M.Jollyet),  de  ce  que  vous  prenez  tant  de  peine  pour  nous  venir 
visiter,  jamais  la  terre  n'a  este  si  belle  ny  le  soleil  si  eclatant  qu'au- 
jourdhui ;  jamais  notre  riviere  n'a  este  si  calme,  n'y  si  nette  de 
rochers  que  vos  canotz  ont  enlevees  en  passant,  jamais  nosire  petun 
n'a  eu  si  bon  gout,  n'y  nos  bleds  n'ont  pani  si  beau  que  nous  les 
voions  maintenant.  Voicy  mon  fils  que  je  te  donne  pour  te  faire  con- 
noistre mon  coBur,  je  te  prie  d'avoir  pitie  de  moy  et  de  toute  ma  nation, 
c'est  toy  qui  connoist  le  grand  Genie  qui  nous  a  tous  faits,  c'est  toy 
qui  luy  parle  et  quy  escoute  sa  parole,  demande  luy  qu'il  me  donne 
la  vie  et  la  sante  et  vierit  demeurer  avec  nous,  pour  nous  le  faire  con- 
noistre. Cela  dit  il  mit  le  petit  esclave  proche  de  nous,et  nous  fit  un 
second  present,  qui  estoit  un  calumet  tout  mysterieux,  dont  ils  font 
plus  d'estat  que  d'un  esclave  ;  il  nous  temoignoit  par  ce  present  I'es- 
time  qu'il  faisoit  de  monsieur  nostre  gouverneur,  sur  le  recit  que  nous 
luy  en  avions  fiiit;  et  pour  un  troisieme  il  nous  prioit  de  la  part  de 
toute  sa  nation,  de  ne  pas  passer  oultre,  a  cause  des  grands  dangers 
ou  nous  nous  exposions. 

Je  repondis  que  je  no  craignois  point  la  mort,  et  que  je  n'estimois 
point  de  plus  grand  bonheur  que  de  perdre  la  vie  pour  la  gloire  de 
Celuy  que  a  tout  fait.  C'est  ce  que  ces  pauvres  peuples  ne  peuvent 
comprendre. 

Le  conseil  fnt  suivy  d'un  grand  festin  qui  consistoit  en  quattre 
metz,  qui'l  falliit  prendre  avec  toutes  leurs  fapons,  le  premier  service 
fut  un  grand  plat  de  bois  plein  de  sagamite,  c'est-a-dire  de  farine  de 
bled  d'inde  qu'on  fait  boiiillur  avec  de  I'eau  qu'on  assaisonne  de  graisse. 


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244 


NABBATIYE   OF  FATHER  MAKQUETTE. 


Le  maistre  des  ceremonies  avec  une  cuillier  pleine  de  sagamitS  me 
la  presenta  a  la  bouche  par  trois  ou  4  fois,  comme  on  feroit  a  un  petit 
enfant,  il  fit  le  mesme  a  M.  Jollyet.  Pour  second  mets  il  fit  par- 
oistre  un  second  plat  ou  il  y  avoit  trois  poissons,  il  en  prit  quelques 
morceaux  pour  en  oster  les  arestes,  et  ayant  souffle  dessus  pour  los 
rafraichir,  il  nous  les  mit  a  la  bouche,  comme  I'on  donneroit  la 
beschee  a  un  oyseau.  On  apporte  pour  troisieme  service  un  grand 
chien,  qu  on  venoit  de  tuer,  mais  ayant  appris  que  nous  n'en  mangions 
point,  on  le  ret!  -.  de  devant  nous.  Enfin  Ie4*ifut  une  piece  de 
boeuf  sauvage,  dont  on  nous  mit  a  la  bouche  les  morceaux  les  plus 
gras. 

Apres  ce  festin  il  fallut  aller  visiter  tout  le  village,  qui  est  bien 
compose  de  300  cabannes.  Pendant  que  nous  marchions  par  les 
rues,  un  orateur  haranguoit  continuellement  pour  obliger  tout  le 
monde  a  nous  voir,  sans  nous  estre  importuns ;  on  nuus  presentoit 
partout  des  ceintures,  des  jartieres  et  autres  ouvrages  fails  de  poil 
d'ours  et  de  bceuf  et  teins  en  rouge,  en  jaune,  et  en  gris,  ce  sont 
toutes  les  raretez  qu'ils  out ;  commes  elles  ne  sont  pas  bien  consider- 
bles,  nous  ne  nous  en  chargeames  point. 

Nous  couchames  dans  la  cabnne  du  capitaine  etle  lendemain  nous 
prismes  conge  de  luy,  promettant  de  repasser  par  son  bourg  dans 
quatre  lunes.  II  nous  conduisit  jusqua  nos  canotz  avec  pres  de  600 
personnes  qui  nous  virent  embarquer,  nous  donnant  toutes  les 
marques  qu'ils  pouvoient  de  la  joye  que  noire  visile  leur  avoit  causee. 
Je  m'engageay  en  mon  particulier,  en  leur  disant  adieu  que  je  vien 
drois  Tan  prochain  demeurer  avec  eux  pour  les  instruire.  Mais 
avant  que  de  quitter  le  pays  des  Uinois,  il  est  bon  que  je  rapporle  ce 
que  j'ay  reconnu  de  leurs  cousiames  et  fa9ons  de  faire. 


..ftm 


DISOOYEBIES  TN  THE  MISSISRIPFI  VALLBT. 


245 


SECTION  VI. 

Du  naturel  dea  Ilinoi»,  de  leura  meuri,  et  de  leurt  cotutumet,  de  Testime  quHli  out 
pour  le  Calumet  ou  pipe  a  prendre  du  Tabae  et  de  la  dante  qu'iU/ont  en  ton 
honneur.  ^v 

Qui  dit  liinois,  c'est  comme  qui  diroit  en  leur  langue  les 
hommes,  comme  si  les  autres  sauvages,  aupres  d'euxnepassoientque 
pour  des  bestes,  aussi  faut  il  advoiier  qu'ils  ont  un  air  d'humanit6 
que  nous  n'avons  pas  remarquc  dans  les  autres  nations  que  nous 
avons  veiies  sur  nostre  route.  Le  peu  de  sejour  que  jay  fait  parmy 
eux  ne  m'a  pas  permis  de  prendre  toutcs  les  connoissances  que 
j'aurois  soubaite ;  de  toutes  leurs  fa^ons  de  faire  voicy  ce  que  j'en 
ay  re  marque. 

lis  sont  divises  en  plusieures  bourgades  dont  quelquesunes  sont 
asses  eloignees  de  celle  dont  nous  parlons  qui  s'appelle  Peoiiarca, 
c'est  ce  qui  met  de  la  diflference  en  leur  langue,  laquelle  universalle- 
ment  ticnt  de  I'allegonquin  de  sorte  que  nous  nous  entendions  facile- 
ment  les  uns  les  autres.  Leur  naturel  est  doux  et  traitable,  nous 
I'avons  ejf^erimente  dans  la  reception  qu'il  nous  ont  faitte.  lis  ont 
plusieurs  femmes  dont  ils  sont  extremement  jaloux,  ils  les  veillent  avec 
un  grand  soin  et  ils  leur  couppent  le  nez  ou  les  oreilles  quand  elles 
ne  sont  pas  sages,  j'en  ay  veu  plusieures  qui  portoient  les  marques  de 
leurs  desordres.  lis  ont  le  corps  bien  fait,  ils  sont  lestes  et  fort 
adroits  a  tirer  de  Tare  et  de  la  fl^che.  lis  se  servent  aussi  des  fusils 
qu'ils  acheptent  des  sauvages  nos  allies  qui  ont  commerce  avec  nos 
fran^ois  ;  ils  en  usent  particulierement  pour  donner  I'epouvante  par 
le  bruit  et  par  la  fumee  a  leurs  ennemys  qui  n'en  n'ont  point  I'usage 
et  n'en  ont  jamais  veu  pour  estre  trop  eloign^  vers  le  couchant.  Ils 
sont  belliqueux  et  &e  rendent  redoutables  aux  peuples  eloignes  du 
sud  et  de  I'ouest,  ou  ils  vent  faire  des  esclaves,  dcsquels  ils  se  ser- 
vent pour  trafiquer,  les  vendant  cherement  a  d'autres  nations,  pour 
d'autres  marchand'-^es.  Ces  sauvages  si  eloignes  chez  qui  ils  vont 
en  guerre  n'ont  aucune  connoissance  d'Europeans  ;  ils  ne  savent  ce 
que  c'est  ny  de  fer  ny  de  cuivre  et  n'ont  que  des  couteaux  de 
pierre.  Quand  les  Ilinois  partent  pour  aller  on  guerre,  il  faut  que 
tout  le  bourg  en  soit  adverty  par  le  grand  cry  qu'ils  font  a  la  porte 
de  leurs  cabanes,  le  soir  et  le  matin  avant  que  de  partir.     Les  capi- 


246 


NABRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTB. 


taines  se  distingiieiit  des  soldats  par  des  escharpes  rouges  qu'ils  por- 
tent, ellea  sont  faittes  de  crin  d'uurs  et  du  poil  de  bcBufs  sauvages 
avec  ussez  d'industrie  ;  ils  se  peigitent  le  visage  d'un  rouge  de  san- 
guine, dont  ily  a  grande  quantite  a  quelques  journees  du  bourg.  lis 
vivent  de  chasse  qui  est  abondante  en  ce  pays  et  de  bled  d'inde  dont 
ils  font  tousjour  une  bonne  recolte,  aussi  n'ont  ils  jamais  soufTert  de 
famine,  ils  sement  aussi  des  febves  et  des  melons  qui  sont  excel- 
lentz,  surtout  ceux  qui  ont  la  graine  rouge,  leurs  citrouilles  ne  sont 
pas  des  meilleures,  ils  Ics  font  secher  au  soleil  pour  les  gianger 
pendant  I'hyver  et  le  primptemps.  Leur  cabanes  sont  fort  grandes, 
elles  sont  couvertes  et  pavees  de  nattes  faittes  de  joncs  :  ils  trouvent 
toutes  leur  vaiselle  dans  le  bois  et  leurs  cuilliers  dans  la  teste  de 
boeufs  dont  ils  savent  si  bien  accommoder  le  crane  qu'ils  s'en  servent 
pour  manger  aisement  leur  sagamite. 

Ils  sont  liberaux  dans  leurs  maladies,  et  croyent  que  les  medica- 
mens  qu'on  leur  donne,  operent  a  proportion  des  presents  qu'ils 
auront  fais  au  medecin.  Ils  n'ont  que  des  peaux  pour  habitz,  les 
femmes  sont  tousjours  vestiies  fort  modestement  et  dans  une  grande 
bien  seance  au  lieu  que  les  hommes  ne  se  mettent  pas  en  peine  de 
80  couvrir.  Je  ne  soais  par  quelle  superstition  quelques  Ilinois, 
aussi  bien  que  quelques  Niidoiiessi,  estant  encore  jeunes  prennent 
rhabit  des  femmes  qu'ils  gardent  toute  leur  vie.  II  y  a  d«  mystere  ; 
car  il  ne  se  marient  jamais,  et  font  gloire  de  s'abaisser  a  faire  tout 
ce  que  font  les  femmes ;  ils  vont  pourtant  en  guerre,  mais  ils  ne 
peuvent  se  servir  que  de  la  massiie,  et  non  pas  de  I'arc  ny  de  la 
fleche  qui  sont  les  armes  propres  des  hommes,  ils  assistent  a  toutes 
les  jonglerios  ct  aux  danses  solemnelles  qui  se  font  a  I'honneur  du 
calumet,  ils  '•^  chantent  mais  ils  n'y  peuvent  pas  danser,  ils  sont  ap- 
pelles  aux  conseils,  ou  Ton  ne  peat  rien  decider  sans  leurs  advis ; 
enfin  par  le  profession  qu'ils  font  d'une  vie  extresordinaire,  ils  pas- 
sent  pour  des  manitous,  c'est-adire  pour  des  Genies  ou  des  personnes 
de  consequence. 

II  ne  reste  plus  qu'a  parler  du  calumet.  II  n'est  rien  parmy  eux  ny 
de  plus  mysterieux  ny  de  plus  recommandable,  on  ne  rend  pas  tant 
d'honneur  aux  couronnes  et  aux  sceptres  des  Roys  qu'ils  luy  en  ren- 
dent;  il  semble  estre  le  dieu  de  la  paix  et  de  la  guerre,  I'arbitre  de  la 
vie  et  de  la  raort.  C'est  assez  de  1  ?  porter  sur  soy  et  de  le  faire  voir  pour 
marcher  en  assurance  au  milieu  des  ennemys,  qui  dans  le  fort  du  com- 
bat mettent  bas  les  armes  quand  on  le  montre.  C'est  pour  cela  que  les 
Ilinois  m'en  donnerent  un  pour  me  servir  de  sauvegarde  parmy  toutes 


r'i 


M9COVEBIK8    IN  THE  MI98I88IPPI  VALLEY. 


247 


'III' J 


les  nations,  parlesquelles  je  devois  passer  dans  mon  voyage.  II  ya  un 
calumet  pour  la  paix  et  un  pour  la  guerre,  qui  ne  sont  distingue  quo 
par  la  couleur  des  plumages  dontz  ils  sont  ornes.  (Le  Rouge  esf 
marque  de  guerre),  lis  s'en  servent  encor  pour  terminer  leur  differ 
ents,  pour  affermir  leurs  alliances  et  pour  parler  aux  estrangers.*  II 
est  compose  d'une  pierre  rouge  polie  comme  du  marbre  et  percee 
d'une  telle  fa<;on  qu'un  bout  sert  a  recevoir  le  tabac  et  I'autre  s'en- 
clave  dans  le  manche,  qui  est  un  baston  de  deux  pieds  de  long,  gros 
comme  une  canne  ordinaire  et  percee  par  le  milieu  ;  11  est  embelly 
de  la  teste  et  du  col  de  divers  nyseaux,  dont  le  plumage  est  trds 
beau;  ils  y  ajoutent  aussi  de  grandes  plumes  rouges,  vertes  et 
d'autres  couleurs,  dont  il  est  tout  emponache  ;  ils  en  font  estat  par- 
ticulierement,  parcequ'ils  le  regardent  comme  le  calumet  du  soleil ; 
et  de  fuit  ils  le  luy  presentent  pour  fumer  quand  ils  veulent  obtenir 
du  calme,  ou  de  la  pluye  ou  du  beau  temps.  Ils  font  scrupule  de 
80  baigner  au  commencement  de  I'Este,  ou  de  manger  des  fruits 
nouveaux  qu'apres  I'avoir  dance.     En  voicy  la  faijon. 

La  danse  du  calumet,  qu..  est  fort  celebre  parmy  ces  peuples,  ne 
86  fait  que  pour  des  sujets  considerables  ;  quelque  fois  c'est  pour  af- 
fermir la  paix  ou  se  reiinir  pour  quelque  grande  guerre  ;  c'est  d'au- 
tres  fois  pour  une  rejoiiissance  publique,  tantost  on  en  fait  honneur  a 
une  nation  qu'on  invite  d^  assister,  tantost  ils  sen  servent  a  la  re- 
ception de  quelque  personne  considerable  comme  s'ils  vouloient  luy 
donner  le  divertissement  du  Bal  ou  de  la  Comede  ;  I'hyver  la  cere- 
monie  se  fait  dans  une  cabane,  TEste  c'est  en  raze  campagne.  La 
place  etant  choisie,  on  I'environne  tout  a  I'entour  d*arbres  pour 
mettre  tout  le  monde  a  I'ombre  de  leurs  feiiillages,  pour  se  defendre 
des  chaleurs  du  soleil ;  on  etend  une  grande  natte  de  joncs  peinte 
de  diverses  couleurs  au  milieu  de  la  place ;  elle  sert  comme  de 
tapis  pour  mettre  dessus  avec  honneur  le  Dieu  de  celuy  qui  fait  la 
Dancp  ;  car  chacun  a  le  sien,  qu'ils  appellent  leur  manitou,  c'est  un 
serpent  ou  un  oyseau,  ou  chose  semblable  qu'ils  ont  resve  en  dor- 
mant et  en  qui  ils  mettent  tout  leur  coniiance  pour  le  succez  delcur 
guerre,  de  leur  pesche  et  de  leur  chasse  ;  pres  de  ce  manitou  et  a  sa 
droite,  on  met  le  calumet  en  I'honneur  do  qui  se  fait  la  feste  et  tout 
a  I'entour  on  fait  comme  une  trophee  et  on  estend  les  armes  dont  se 
servent  les  guerriers  de  ces  nations,  s9avoir  la  massiie,  la  hache 
d  arme,  Tare,  le  carquois  et  les  fleches. 


•\im 


ill 


*  From  this  to  the  next  star  is  from  Tbevenot 


248 


NARRATIVB  OP  FATHER  MABQUETTB. 


Les  choses  estant  ainsi  disposees  ot  Theuro  de  la  danre  appro- 
chant,  ceux  qui  sont  nommez  pour  chanter  prennent  la  place  la  plus 
honorable  sous  les  feuillages  ;  ce  sont  les  hommes  et  les  feinmes  qui 
ont  les  plus  belles  voix,  et  qui  s'accordent  parfaitement  bien  ensem- 
ble ;  tout  le  moude  vient  ensuiite  se  placer  en  rond  sous  les  branches, 
mais  chacun  en  arrivant  doit  saliier  le  manitou,  ce  qu'il  fait  en  petu- 
nant  et  jettant  de  sa  bouche  la  fumee  sur  luy  comme  s'il  luy  pre- 
sentoit  de  I'encens  ;  chacun  va  d'abord  avec  respect  prendre  le  cal- 
umet et  le  soutenant  des  deux  mains,  il  le  fait  dancer  en  cadence, 
s'accordant  bien  avec  I'air  des  chansons ;  il  luy  fait  fuire  des  ifigures 
bien  diiferentes,  lantost  il  le  fait  voir  a  toutc  I'assemblee  se  tournant 
de  cote  et  d'autre  ;  apres  cela,  celuy  qui  doit  commencer  la  dance 
paroist  au  milieu  de  I'assemblee  et  va  d'abord  et  tantost  il  le  presente 
au  soleil,  comme  s'il  le  vouloit  faire  fumer,  tantost  il  I'incline  vers  la 
terre,  d'autrefois  il  luy  estend  les  aisles  comme  pour  voler,  d'autres 
fois  il  I'approche  de  la  bouche  des  assistans,  aflnqu'ils  fument,  le 
tout  en  cadence,  et  c'est  comme  la  premiere  scene  du  Bullet. 

La  seconde  consiste  en  un  combat  qui  se  fait  au  son  d'nne  espece 
de  tambour,  qui  succede  aux  chansons,  ou  mesme  qui  s'y  joignant 
s'accordent  fort  bien  ensemble  ;  le  Danseur  fait  signe  a  quelque 
guerrier  de  venir  prendre  les  armes  qui  sont  sur  la  natte  et  I'lnvito 
a  se  battre  au  son  des  tambours ;  ceh  }'ci  s'approche,  prend  Tare  et 
la  fleche,  avec  la  hache  d'armes  et  commence  le  diiel  contre  I'autre, 
qui  n'a  point  d'autre  defense  que  le  calumet.  Ce  spectacle  est  fort 
agreable,  surtout  les  faisant  tousjours  en  cadence,  car  I'un  attaque, 
I'autre  se  defend,  I'un  porte  des  coups,  I'autre  les  pare,  I'un  fuit,  I'autre 
le  poursuit  et  puis  celuy  qui  fuyoit  tourne  visage  et  fait  fiiyr  son  en- 
nemy,  ce  qui  se  passe  si  bien  par  mesure  et  a  pas  comptez  et  au  son 
regie  des  voix  et  des  tambours,  que  cela  pourroit  passer  pour  une 
assez  belle  entree  de  Ballet  en  France. 

La  troisieme  scene  consiste  en  un  grand  discours  que  fait  celuy 
qui  tient  le  calumet,  car  le  combat  estant  fini  sans  sang  repandu,  il 
raconte  les  batailles  o'u  il  s'est  trouve,  les  victoires  qu'il  a  remportees, 
il  nomme  les  nations,  les  lieux  et  les  captifs  qu'il  a  faitz,  et  pour  re- 
compense celuy  qui  preside  a  la  danse  luy  fait  present  d'une  belle 
robe  de  castor  ou  de  quelque  autre  chose  et  I'ayant  receu  il  va  pre- 
senter le  calumet  a  un  autre,  celuyci  a  un  troisieme,  et  ainsi  de  tons 
les  autres,  jusqu'aceque  tous  ayant  fait  leur  devoir,  le  President  fait 
present  du  calumet  mesme  a  la  nation  qui  a  este  invitee  a  cette  ceremo- 
nie,  pour  marque  de  la  paix  eternelle  qui  sera  entro  les  deux  peuples. 


iO'M 


DI8COVERIE8   IN   THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


249 


Voicy  quelqu'une  des  chansons  qu'ils  ont  coustume  de  chanter,  ils 
Icur  donnent  un  certain  tour  qu'on  ne  peut  assez  exprimer  par  la 
notte,  qui  nuamoins  en  fait  toute  la  grace.  • 

"  Ninahani,  ninahaDi,  ninahani,  nanionga" 


!;ii"<i 


SECTION   VII. 

Nous  prenons  conge  de  nos  Uinois  sur  la  fin  de  Juin  vers  les  trois 
heures  apres  midy,  nous  nous  embarquons  a  laveiie  de  tous  ces 
peuples  qui  admiroient  nos  petits  canotz,  n'en  ayant  jamais  veu  de 
semblables. 

Nous  descendons  suivant  le  courant  de  la  riviere  appellee  Pekit- 
anoiii,  qui  se  decharge  dans  Missisipi  venant  du  Nordoiiest,  de  la 
quelle  j'ay  quelque  chose  de  considerable  h.  dire  apres  que  j'auray 
raconte  ce  que  j'ay  remarque  sur  cette  riviere.*  Passant  proche  des 
rochers  assez  hautz  qui  bordent  la  riviere  j'apperceu  un  simple  qui 
m'a  paru  fort  extraordinaire.  La  racine  est  sembluble  a  des  petitz 
naveaux  attachez  les  uns  aux  autres  par  des  petitz  filetz  qui  ont 
!e  gout  de  carote  ;  de  cette  racine  sort  une  feuille  large  comme  la 
main,  espaisses  d'un  demi  doigt  avec  des  taches  au  milieu ;  de  cette 
feuille  naissent  d'autres  fouilles  resemblables  aux  plaques  qui  servent 
de  flambeaux  dans  nos  sales  et  chasque  feuille  porte  cinq  ou  six 
fleurs  jaunes  en  forme  de  clochettes. 

Nous  trouvames  quantite  de  meures  aussi  grosses  que  celle  de 
France,  et  un  petit  fruict  que  nous  prismes  d'abord  pour  des  olives, 
mais  il  avoit  le  gout  d'orange  et  un  aultre  fruict  gros  comme  un  ceuf 
de  poule,  nous  le  fendismes  en  deux  et  parurent  deux  separations, 
dans  chasqu'une  desquelles  il  y  a  8  ou  10  fruicts  enchassez,  ils  ont 
la  figure  d'amande  et  sont  fort  bons  quand  ils  sont  meurs ;  I'arbre 
neamoins  qui  les  porte  a  tres  mauvaise  odeur  et  sa  feuille  ressemble 
a  celle  de  noyer,  il  se  trouve  aussi  dans  les  prairies  un  fruit  sembla- 
ble  a  des  noisettes  mais  plus  tendre :  les  feuilles  sont  fort  grandes 
et  viennent  d'une  tige  au  bout  de  laquelle  est  une  teste  semblable  a 
celle  d'un  tournesol,  dans  laquelle  toutes  ces  noisettes  sont  propre- 
raent  arrangees,  elles  sont  fort  bonnes  et  cuites  et  crues. 

Comme  nous  cottoions  des  rochers  afTreux  pour  leur  haulteur  et 
pour  leur  longeur,    nous  vismes  sur  un  de  ses  rochers  deux  monstres 


250 


NARRATIVE   OF   FATIIKR   MAIUiUKTTE. 


en  pcintiire  qui  nous  fircnt  pour  d'libord  ct  sur  leHqucIs  len  8nuvngcs 
les  plus  hardys  n'oHeut  pus  nrroHtor  lonutcnips  1«'h  yeux  ;  ila  sont  gros 
comme  uu  veau  ;  ils  onl  des  comes  en  teste  comineN  den  chevruils ; 
un  regiird  aifreux,  dcs  yeux  rouges,  una  barbo  comme  d'un  tyyre,  la 
face  a  <)ue)quo  choso  de  Thomme,  le  corps  convert  d'cciiilles  ct  la 
quoiie  si  longue  qu'elle  fait  tout  lo  tour  du  corps  passant  par  dessus 
la  teste  et  retournant  entre  les  jambes  elle  se  termine  eu  queue  de 
poisson.  Le  vert  le  rouge  et  le  noirastre  sont  les  trois  couleurs  qui 
le  composent ;  an  reste  ces  2  monstres  sont  si  bien  peint  que  nous  ne 
pouvons  pas  croire  qu*aucun  sauvage  en  soil  I'autheur,  puisqueles 
bons  peintres  en  France  auroient  peine  a  si  bien  faire,  veuque  d'ail- 
leurs  ils  sont  si  hauls  sur  lo  rucher  qu'il  est  difficile  d'y  alteindro 
commodement  pour  les  peitidre.  Voicy  apeupres  la  figure  de  cus 
monstres  comme  nous  I'avons  conlretiree. 

Comme  nous  enlrelenions  sur  ces  monstres,  voguant  paisiblement 
dans  une  belle  eau  cluire  el  dormante  nous  enlendisme  le  bruit  d'un 
rapide,  dans  lequel  nous  allions  tomber.  Je  n'ay  rien  veu  de  plus 
aifreux,  un  ambaras  de  gros  arbres  entiers,  de  branches,  d'isletz  flo- 
tans,  sortoit  de  rembouclmre  de  la  riviere  Pekitanoiii  avec  lant  d'im- 
petuosite  qu'on  ne  pouvoit  s'exposer  a  passer  au  travers  sans  grand 
danger.  L'agituliou  esloil  telle  que  I'eau  en  estoit  loute  boueuse 
el  ne  pouvoit  s'epurer.  Pekitanoiii  est  une  riviere  considerable  qui 
venant  d'assez  loing  du  coste  du  noroiiest,  sc  decharge  dans  Mis- 
sisipi,  plusieurs  Bourgades  de  sauvages  sont  placecs  le  long  de  cette 
riviere  et  jespere  par  son  moyen  faire  la  decouverte  de  la  mer  Ver- 
meille  ou  de  Californie. 

Nous  jugeons  bien  par  le  rund  de  vent  que  lient  Missisippi,  si  elle 
continue  dans  la  mesme  route,  qu'elle  a  sa  decharge  dans  le  golphe 
mexique  ;  il  seroil  bien  advanlageux  de  trouver  celle  qui  conduit  a  la 
mer  du  sud,  vers  la  Californie  et  c'est  comme  j'ay  dit  ce  que  j'espere 
de  rencontrer  par  Pekilanoui,  suivant  le  rapport  que  m'en  onl  fait  les 
sauvages,  desquels  j'ay  appris  qu'en  refoulant  cette  riviere  pendant  5 
ou  6  journees  on  trouve  une  belle  prairie  de  20  ou  30  lieiies  de  long, 
il  faul  la  traverser  allant  au  noroiiest,  elle  se  termine  a  une  autre 
petite  riviere,  sur  laquelle  on  pent  s'embarquer,  n'etanl  pas  bien  dif- 
ficile de  transporter  les  canotz  par  un  si  beau  pays  telle  qu'est  cette 
prairie.  Cette  2de  riviere  a  son  cours  vers  le  souroiiest  pendant  10  ou 
15  lieiies,  apres  quoy  elle  entre  dans  un  petit  lac,  que  est  la  source  d'une 
autre  riviere  profonde,  laquelle  va  au  couchant,  ou  elle  se  jette  dans 
la  mer.     Je  ne  double  presque  point  que  co  ne  soil  la  Mer  Vormeille, 


I'l'"'! 


DiaCOVEKIKS    IN   TlIK   MWSISSIPl'I   VALLEY. 


251 


et  je  ne  doscspore  pas  d'en  fuire  un  jour  la  ducouverlo,  81  Diou  m'en 
fait  la  grace  el  me  donne  la  8nnt6  atFin  de  pouvoir  puhlier  rEvuiigile 
a  toua  les  pcuples  de  co  nnuveau  munde,  qui  out  croupi  hi  lungtomps 
dans  les  tenebres  de  rinfidelile. 

Reprenoos  nostre  route  apres  nous  estre  eschapo  comme  nous 
avons  pd  de  ce  dangereux  rapido  cause  par  rumbaras  dunt  j'ay  parle. 


I  I'M 


SECTION   VIII. 

Dm  nouveanx  pajfs  que  l«  Pere  decouvrr, — J)ii;eraes  particularitit. — Rencontre 
de  quelquea  sauvages  :  premieres  nouvelles  dc  la  JUer  et  dci  Europeans. — Orand 
danyer  evile  par  Ic  moi/en  du  calumet, 

Apres  avoir  fait  environ  20  lieiies  droit  au  sud  et  un  peu  moins  au 
sudest  nous  nous  trouvons  a  une  riviere  nommee  Ouaboukigou  dont 
I'embouchure  est  par  les  3G  degrez  d'elevation.  Avant  que  d'y 
arriver  nous  passons  par  un  lieu  redoutable  aux  sauvages  parcequ'ils 
estiinent  qu'il  y  a  un  manitou,  c'est  a  dire  un  demon  qui  devore  les 
paasans  et  c'est  de  quoy  nous  mena9oient  les  sauvages  qui  nous 
vouloient  detourner  do  nostre  enterprise.  Voicy  ce  demon,  c'est  une 
petite  anse  de  rochers  haulte  de  20  pieds  ou  se  degorge  tout  le 
cuurant  de  lu  riviere  lequel  estant  repousse  contre  celuy  qui  le  suit 
et  arreste  par  une  isle  qui  est  proche,  est  contraint  de  passer  par  un 
petit  canal,  ce  qui  ne  se  fait  pas  sans  un  furieux  combat  de  toutes  ces 
eaux  qui  rebroussent  les  uns  sur  autres  et  sans  un  grand  tintamarre 
qui  donne  de  la  terreur  a  des  sauvages  qui  craignent  tout,  mais  cela 
ne  nous  emp^che  point  de  passer  et  d'arriver  a  UabtikigH.  Cette 
riviere  vient  des  terres  du  levant  oil  sont  les  pouples  qu'on  appelle 
Chaoiianons,  en  si  grand  nombre,  qu'en  un  quartier  on  compte  jusqua 
23  villages  et  15  enun  aultre,  assez  proches  les  uns  des  aultres ;  ils 
ne  sont  nullement  guerriers,  et  ce  sont  les  peuples  que  les  Iroquois 
vont  chercher  si  loing  pour  leur  faire  la  guerre  sans  aucun  sujet,  et 
parceque  ces  pauvres  gens  ne  scavent  pas  se  deffendre,  ils  se  lais- 
sent  prendre  et  emmener  comme  des  trouppeaux,  et  tout  innocents 
qu  ils  sont,  ils  ne  laissant  pas  de  ressentir  quelque  fois  la  barbarie 
des  Iroquois  qui  les  bruslent  cruellement. 

Une  peu  au  dessus  de  cette  riviere  dont  ie  viens  de  parler  sont 
des  falaises  ou  nos  fran^ois  ont  apperceu  une  mine  de  fer,  qu'ils 


I 


252 


NARRATIVE  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE. 


jugent  tres  abondante,  il  y  en  a  plusieures  veines  et  un  lit  d'un  pied 
de  hauteur;  on  en  volt  de  gros  morceaux  liez  avec  des  cailloux.  II 
s'y  trouve  d'une  terre  grasse  de  trois  sortes  de  couleurs,  de  pourpre 
de  violet  et  des  Rouges.  I/eau  dans  laquelle  on  la  lave  prend  la 
couleur  de  sang.  II  y  a  aussi  d'un  sable  rouge  fort  pesant.  J'en  mis 
sur  un  aviron  qui  en  prit  la  couleur  si  fortement,  que  I'eau  ne  la  pilt 
efTacer  pendant  15  jours  que  je  m'en  servois  pour  nager. 

C'est  icy  que  nous  commencons  a  voir  des  Cannes  ou  gros  roseaux 
qui  sunt  sur  le  bord  de  la  riviere,  elles  ont  un  vert  fort  agreable,  tons 
les  nceuds  sont  couronnez  de  feiiilles  longues,  estroittes  et  pointiies, 
elles  sont  fort  hautes  et  en  si  grande  quantite  que  les  boeufs  sauvages 
ont  peine  de  les  forcer. 

Jus  lu'a  present  nous  n'avions  point  estez  incommodes  des  marin> 
gouins,  mais  nous  entrons  comme  dans  leur  pays.  Voicy  ce  que  font 
les  sauvages  de  ces  quartiers  pour  s'en  deffendre  ;  ils  elevent  un  es- 
chafTault  dont  le  plancher  n*est  fait  que  de  perches,  et  par  consequent 
est  perce  a  jour  affinque  la  fumee  du  feu  qu'ils  font  dessous  passe 
au  travers  et  chasse  ces  petitz  animaux  qui  ne  la  peuvent  supporter, 
on  se  couche  sur  les  perches  au  dessus  desquelles  sont  des  escorces 
estendiies  centre  la  pluye.  Get  eschaffault  leur  sert  encor  centre 
les  chaleurs  excessives  et  insupportables  de  ce  pays,  car  on  s^ 
met  a  I'ombre  a  I'estage  d'en  bas  et  on  s'y  garantit  des  rayons  du 
Boleil,  prenant  le  frais  du  vent  qui  passe  librement  autravers  de  cet 
eschafTauU. 

Dans  le  mesme  dessein  nous  fusmes  contraints  de  faire  sur  I'eau 
une  espece  de  cabane  avec  nos  voiles  pour  nous  mettre  a  convert  et 
des  maringouins  et  des  rayons  du  soleil,  comme  nous  nous  laissons 
aller  en  cet  estat  au  gre  de  I'eau,  nous  apperceumes  a  terre  des 
sauvages  armez  de  fusilz  avec  lesquels  ils  nous  attendoient.  Je  leur 
presentay  d'abord  mon  calumet  empanache,  pendant  que  nos  frantjois 
se  mettent  en  deffense,  et  attendoient  a  tirer,  que  les  sauvages ; 
eussent  fait  la  premiere  decharge,  je  leur  parlay  en  Huron,  mais  ils 
me  repondirent  par  un  mot  qui  me  sembloit  nous  declarer  la  guerre, 
ils  avoient  neamoins  autant  de  peur  que  nous,  et  ceque  nous  prenions 
pour  signal  de  guerre,  estoit  une  invitation  qu'ils  nous  faisoU  de 
nous  approcher,  pour  nous  donner  a  manger,  nous  debarquons  done 
et  nous  entrons  dans  leur  cabanes  oil  ils  nous  presente  du  boeuf 
sauvage  et  de  I'huile  d'ours,  avec  des  prunes  blanches  qui  sont  tres 
excellentes.  Ils  ont  des  fusils,  des  haches,  des  hoiies,  des  coust- 
eaux,  de  la  rassade,  des  bouteilles  de  verre  double  ou  ils  mettent  leur 


DISCOVERIES    IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI   VALLEY. 


253 


poudre,  ils  ont  les  cheveux  longs  et  se  marquent  par  le  corps  a  la 
fa9on  lies  hiroquois,  les  femmes  sont  coifTes  et  A'estiies  a  la  fa^uii  des 
huronnes,  ils  nous  assurerent  qu'ils  n'y  avoit  plus  que  dix  journees 
jusqua  la  mer,  qu'ils  acheptoient  les  estofTes  et  toutes  autres  mar- 
chandises  des  Europeans  qui  estoient  du  coste  de  I'Est,  que  ces 
Europeans  avoient  des  chapeletz  et  des  images,  qu'ils  joiinient  des 
instrumentz,  qu'il  y  en  avoit  qui  estoient  faitz  comme  moy  et  qu'ils 
en  estoient  bien  receu ;  cependant  je  ne  vis  personne  qui  me  parut 
avoir  receu  aucune  instruction  pour  la  Toy,  le  leurs  en  donnay  ceque 
je  pts  avec  quelques  medailles. 

Ces  nouvelles  animerent  nos  courages  et  nous  firent  prendre 
I'aviron  avec  une  nouvelle  ardeur.  Nous  avan^ons  done  et  nous  ne 
voions  plus  tant  de  prairies  parceque  les  2  coslez  de  la  riviere  sont 
bordez  de  hauts  bois.  Les  cottonniers,  les  ormes  et  les  hoisblancs 
y  sont  admirables  pour  leur  haulteur  et  leur  grosseur.  La  grande 
quanlite  de  boeufs  sauvages  que  nous  entendions  meugler  nous  fait 
croire  que  les  prairies  sont  proclies,  nous  voions  aussi  des  cailles 
le  bord  de  I'eau,  nous  avons  tue  un  petit  perroquet  qui  avoit  la 
moiti^  de  la  teste  rouge,  I'antre  et  le  col  jaune  et  tout  le  corps  vert. 
Nous  estions  descendus  proche  des  33  degrez  d'eslevation  ayant 
presque  tuusjour  este  vers  le  sud,  quand  nous  apperceumes  un  village 
sur  le  bord  de  I'eau  nomme  Mitchigamea.  Nous  eusmes  recours  a 
nostre  Patronne  et  a  nostre  conductrice  la  Sle.  Vierge  Immaculee,  et 
nous  avions  bien  besuii  de  son  assistance,  car  nous  entendismes  de 
loing  les  sauvages  qni  ^animoient  au  combat  par  leurs  crys  continu- 
els,  ils  estoient  armes  d'arcs,  de  Arches,  de  baches,  de  massiies  et 
de  boucliers,  ils  se  mirent  en  estat  de  nous  attaquer  par  terre  ct  par 
eau,  une  partie  s'embarque  dans  de  grands  canotz  de  bois,  les  uns 
pour  monter  la  riviere,  les  autres  pour  la  descendre,  affin  de  nous 
coupper  chemin,  et  nous  envelopper  de  tons  costez ;  ceux  qui  es- 
toient a  terre  alloient  et  vcnoient  comme  pour  commencer  I'uttaque. 
De  fait  de  jeunes  hommes  se  jetterent  a  I'eau,  pour  venire  saiser  de 
men  canot,  mais  le  courant  les  ayant  contraint  de  reprendre  terre,  un 
d'eux  nous  jetta  sa  massiie  qui  passa  par  dessus  nous  sans  nous 
frapper ;  j'avots  beau  montrer  le  calumet,  et  leur  faire  signe  par  gestes 
que  nous  ne  venions  pas  en  guerre,  I'alarme  continuoit  tousjuur  et 
Ton  se  preparoit  deia  a  nous  percer  de  filches  de  toutes  parts,  quand 
Dieu  toucha  soAdainement  le  cceur  dos  vieillards  qui  estoient  sur  le 
bord  de  I'ohu  sans  doubte  par  la  veiie  de  nostre  calumet  qu'ils  n'n- 
yu^ent  nas  bien  reconnu  de  luing,  mais  comme  je  ne  ccssois  do  le 


ilir 


254 


NARRATIVE   OF  FATIIKR  MARQUETTK. 


faire  paroistre,  ils  en  furent  touchez,  arresterent  I'ardeur  de  leur 
jeunesse  et  meame  deux  de  ces  aiiciens  ayant  jettez  dans  nostre 
canot  comme  a  nos  pieds  leurs  arcs  et  leurs  carqtiuis  pour  nous 
mettre  en  asseurance,  ils  y  entrerent  et  nous  iirent  approcher  de 
terre,  ou  nous  debarquames  non  pas  sans  crainte  de  nostre  part.  II 
fallut  au  commencement  parlcr  par  gestes,  parceque  personne  n'en- 
tendoit  rien  des  six  langues  que  je  scavois,  11  se  trouva  enfin  un 
vielliard  qui  parloit  un  peu  I'llinois. 

Nous  leurs  fimes  paroistre  par  nos  presens  que  nous  alliens  a  la 
mer,  ils  entendirent  bien  ce  que  nous  leur  voulions  dire,  mais  je  ne 
scay  s'ils  con9eurent  ce  que  je  leurs  dis  de  Dieu  et  des  choses  de 
leur  salut,  c'est  une  semence  jettee  en  terre  qui  fructifira  en  son 
temps.  Nous  n'eusmes  point  d'autre  reponse  si  non  que  nous  ap- 
prendrions  tout  ce  que  nous  desirions  d'un  aultre  grand  village  nom- 
m^  Akamsea  qui  n'estoit  qu'a  8  ou  10  lieiies  plus  bas,  ils  nous  pre- 
senterent  de  la  sagamite  ct  du  poisson  et  nous  passames  la  nuict 
chez  eux  avec  asscz  d'inquietude. 


SECTION   IX. 


Reception  qrion  fait  aux  Franrois  dans  la  derniere  des  Bourgades  qu'iU  ont 
veiies. — Les  mwurs  et  fagons  defairc  de  ces  sauvages. — Raisons  pour  ne  pat 
passer  outre. 

Nous  embarquames  le  lendemain  de  grand  matin  avec  nostre  in- 
tcrprette ;  un  canot  ou  estoient  dix  sauvages  alloit  un  peu  devant 
nous,  estant  arrives  a  une  demie  lieiie  des  Akamsea,  nous  vismes  pa- 
roistre deux  canotz  qui  venoient  au  devant  de  nous  ;  celuy  <\\\\  y  com- 
mandoit  estoit  debout  tenant  en  main  le  calumet  avec  lequel  il  faisoit 
plusieurs  gestes  scion  le  coustume  du  pays,  il  vint  nous  joindre  en 
chantant  assez  agreablement  et  nous  donna  a  fumer,  apres  quoy  il 
nous  presenta  de  la  sagamite  et  du  pain  fait  de  bled  d'inde,  dont  nous 
mangeammes  un  peu,  ensnitle  il  prit  le  devant  nous  ayant  fait  signe 
de  venir  doucement  apres  luy  ;  on  nous  avoit  prepare  une  place  sous 
I'eschuffault  du  chef  des  guerriers,  elle  estoit  propre  et  tnpissee  de 
belles  nattes  de  jimc,  sur  losquelles  on  nous  fit  asseoir,  ayant  autour 
de  nous  les  anciens,  qui  estoient  pins  proclies,  apres  les  puerriers  et 
enfin  tout  le  peuple  en  foule.     Nous  trouvftmes  Ta  par  bontieur  .un 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


255 


jedne  hoinme  qui  entendoit  I'llinois  beaucoup  mieux  que  I'liiterprette 
que  nous  avions  amene  de  Mitchigainea,  ce  fut  par  son  moyen  que  je 
parlay  d'aburd  a  toute  cette  asseniblee  par  les  presens  urdinaires  ;  ils 
admiroient  ce  que  je  leur  disois  de  Dien  et  des  mysteres  de  nostra 
Ste  foy,  ils  faisoient  paroistre  un  grand  desir  de  me  retenir  avec  eux 
pour  les  pouvoir  instruire. 

Nous  leurs  demandames  ensuitte  ce  qii'ils  scavoient  de  la  mer ; 
ils  nous  repondirent  que  nous  n'en  estions  qu'a  dix  joiirnees,  nous 
aurions  pA  faire  ce  chemin  en  5  jours,  qu'iis  ne  connoissoient  pas  les 
nations  qui  I'habitoient  a  cause  que  leurs  ennemys  les  empechoient 
d'avoir  commerce  avec  ces  Europeans,  que  les  haches,  cousteaux,  et 
rassade  que  nous  voions  leur  estoient  vendiies  en  partie  par  des  na- 
tions de  I'Est  et  en  partie  par  une  bourgade  d'llinois  placee  a  I'oiiest 
a  quattre  journees  de  la,  que  ces  sauvages  que  nous  avons  rencontres 
qui  avoient  des  fusils  estoient  leurs  ennemys,  lesquels  leur  fermoient 
le  passage  de  la  mer  et  les  empechoient  d'avoir  connoissiince  des 
Europeans  et  d'avoir  avec  eux  aucuri  commerce  ;  qu'au  resle  nous 
nous  exposions  beaucoup  de  passer  plus  oultre  a  cause  des  courses 
continuelles  que  leurs  ennemys  font  sur  la  riviere,  qui  ayant  des  fusils 
et  estant  fort  agguerris,  nous  ne  pouvions  pas  sans  un  danger  evident 
avancer  sur  cette  riviere  qu'iis  occupent  continuellement. 

Pendant  cet  entretien  on  nous  apportoit  continuellement  a  manger 
dans  de  grands  platz  de  bois,  tantost  de  la  sagamite,  tantost  du  bled 
entier,  tantost  d'un  morceau  de  chien,  toute  la  journee  se  passa  en 
festins. 

Ces  peuples  sont  assez  ofRcieux  et  liberaux  de  ce  qu'iis  ont,  mais 
ils  sont  miserables  pour  le  vivre,  nosant  aller  a  lachasse  des  boeufs 
sauvages  a  cause  de  leurs  ennemys,  ils  est  vray  qu'iis  ont  le  bled 
d'inde  en  abondancc,  qu'iis  sement  en  toute  saison,  nous  en  visme 
en  mesme  temps  qui  estoit  en  maturite,  d'autre  qui  ne  faisoit  que 
pousser  et  d'autre  qui  estoit  en  laict,  de  sorte  qu'iis  sement  trois  fois 
Pan.  lis  le  font  cuire  dans  de  grands  potz  de  terre  qui  sont  fort  bien 
faits  ;  ils  ont  aussi  des  assietes  de  terres  cuitte  dontz  ils  se  servent 
a  divers  usages.  Les  hommes  vont  nuds,  portent  les  cheveux 
courtz,  ont  le  nez  perce  d'ou  pend  de  la  rassade  aussi  bien  que  de 
leurs  oreilles.  Les  femmes  sont  vestiies  de  meschantes  peaux, 
noiient  leurs  cheveux  en  deux  tresses,  qu'elles  jettent  derriero  les 
oreilles,  et  n'ont  aucune  rarete  pour  se  parer.  Leurs  festins  se  font 
sans  aucune  ceremonie,  ils  prcsentent  aux  invitez  de  grands  platz 
dontz  chascun  mange  a  discretion,  et  se  donnent  les  restcs  les  uns 


|,!": 


256 


NABBATIVB   OF   FATHKR  MARQUETTE. 


aux  aultres.  Leur  languc  est  extremement  difficile  et  je  ne  pnuvois 
vcnir  about  d'en  prononccr  quelques  motz,  quelque  effort  que  je 
pusse  faire.  Leurs  cabanes  qui  sont  faittes  d'escorce,  sunt  loiigues 
et  larges,  ils  cuuchent  aux  deux  bouts  elevez  do  deux  picds  de  terre, 
ils  y  gardent  leur  bled  dans  de  grands  panniers  faits  de  Cannes,  ou 
dans  des  gourdes  grosses  comme  des  demy  bariques.  lis  ne  scavent 
ce  que  c'est  que  le  castor,  leurs  richesses  consistent  en  peaux  de 
b(Pufs  sauvages,  ils  ne  voient  jamais  de  neige  chez  eux  et  ne  con- 
noissent  I'hyver  que  par  les  pluyes  qui  y  tombent  plus  souvent  qu'en 
est^ ;  nous  n'y  avons  pas  mange  de  fruictz  que  des  melons  d'eau. 
S'ils  scavoient  cultiver  leur  terre  ils  en  auroient  de  toutes  les  sortes. 

Le  S'tir  les  anciens  firent  un  conseil  secret  dans  le  dessein  que 
quelque'uns  avoient  de  nous  casser  la  teste  pour  nous  piller,  mais 
le  chef  rompit  toutes  ces  menees.  Nous  ayant  envoye  querir,  poui' 
marque  de  parfaitte  assurance,  il  dansa  le  calumet  devant  nous,  do 
la  fagon,  que  jay  descript  cy  dessus,  et  pour  nous  oster  toule  crainte, 
il  m'en  fit  present. 

Nous  fismes  M.  Jolliet  et  moy  un  aullre  conseil,  pour  deliberer  sur 
ce  que  nous  avions  a  faire,  si  nous  pousserions  oultre  o'u  si  nous  nous 
contenterions  de  la  decouverte  que  nous  avions  faite.  Apres  avoir 
attentivement  considerc  que  nous  n'estions  pas  loing  du  golphe 
mexique,  dont  le  bassin  estant  a  la  haulteur  de  31  degrez  60  minutes 
(sic),  et  nous  nous  trouvant  a  33  degrez  40  minutes  nous  ne  pouvions 
pas  en  estre  eloignes  plus  de  2  ou  3  journees,  qui  indubitablement  la 
riviere  Missisipi  avoit  sa  decharge  dans  la  floride  ou  golphe  Mex- 
ique, n'on  pas  du  coste  de  Test  dans  la  Yirginie,  dont  le  bord  de  la 
mer  est  a  34  degrez  que  nous  avons  passez  sans  neamoins  estre  encor 
arrives  a  la  mer ;  non  pas  aussi  du  coste  de  I'oiiest  a  la  Californie, 
parceque  nous  devions  pour  cela  avoir  nostre  route  a  Toiiest  ou  a 
Poiiest  soroiiest  et  nous  I'avons  tousjour  en  au  sud.  Nous  consider- 
ames  de  plus  que  nous  nous  exposions  a  perdre  le  fruict  de  ce  voyage 
duquel  nous  ne  pourrions  pas  donner  aucune  connoissance,  si  nous 
allions  nous  jetter  entre  les  mains  des  Espagnols  qui  sans  doubte  nous 
auroient  du  moins  retenus  captifs.  En  oultre  nous  voyions  bien  que 
nous  n'estions  pas  en  estat  de  resister  a  des  sauvages  allies  des  Euro- 
peans, nombreux  et  expertz  a  tirer  du  fusil  qui  infestoiont  continuel- 
ment  le  bas  de  cette  riviere.  Enfin  nous  avions  pris  toutes  les  con- 
noissances  qu'on  pent  souhaiter  dans  cette  decouverte.  Toutes  ces 
raisons  firent  conclure  pour  le  retour,  que  nous  declarames  aux  8au« 
vages  et  pour  lequel  nous  nous  prepardtnes  apres  un  jour  de  repos. 


DISCOVERIES   IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLET. 


257 


SECTION   X. 


I 


Retour  du  Pere  et  dct  Fratifois. — Bapteme  d'un  enfant  moribond, 

Apres  un  mois  de  navigation  en  descendant  sur  Missisipi  depuis 
le  42"*  degre  jusqu'au  34®  et  plus,  et  apres  avoir  publie  I'Evangile, 
autant  que  j'ay  pu,  aux  nations  que  j'ny  rencontrees  nous  partons  le 
17°  Juillet  du  village  des  Akensea  pour  retourner  sur  nos  pas. 
Nous  remontons  done  a  Missisipi  qui  nous  donne  bien  de  la  peine  a 
refouler  ses  courans,  il  est  vray  quo  nous  le  quittons  vers  les  38e 
degre  pour  entrer  dans  une  aultre  riviere  qui  nous  abbrege  de  beau- 
coup  le  cherain  et  nous  conduit  avec  peu  de  peine  dans  le  lac  des 
Ilinois. 

Nous  n'avons  rien  veu  de  semblable  a  cette  riviere  ou  nous  entrons 
pour  la  bonte  des  terres,  des  prairies,  des  bois,  def.  bceufs,  des  cerfs, 
des  chevreux,  des  chatz  sauvages,  des  outardes,  de  cygnes,  des 
canards,  des  perroquetz  et  mesme  des  castors,  il  y  a  quantite  de 
petitz  lacs  et  de  petites  rivieres.  Celle  sur  laquelle  nous  navigeons 
est  large,  profonde,  paisible  pendant  65  lieiies  le  primplemps  et  une 
partie  de  Teste,  on  ne  fait  de  transport  que  pendant  une  demy  lieiie. 
Nous  y  trouvames  une  bourgade  d'llinois  nomme  Kaskaskia  com- 
posee  de  74  cabanes,  ils  nous  y  ont  tres  bien  receus  et  m'ont  oblige 
de  leur  promettre  que  je  retournerois  pour  les  instruire.  Un  de 
chefs  de  cette  nation  avec  sa  jeunesse  nous  est  venu  conduire  ju- 
su'au  lac  des  Ilinois,  d'ou  enfin  nous  nous  sommes  rendus  dans  la 
baye  des  Puantz  sur  la  fin  de  Septembre,  d'ou  nous  estions  partes 
vers  le  commencement  de  Juin. 

Quand  tout  ce  voyage  n'auroit  cause  que  le  salut  d'une  ame,  j'es- 
timerois  toutes  mes  peines  bien  recompensees,  et  c'est  ce  que  j'ay 
sujet  de  presumer,  car  lorsque  je  retournois  nous  passames  par  les 
Ilinois  de  PeSarea,  je  fus  trois  jours  a  publier  la  foy  dans  toutes 
leurs  cabanes,  apres  quoy  comme  nous  nous  embarquions,  on  m'ap- 
porte  au  bord  de  I'eau  un  enfant  moribond  que  je  baptisay  un  peu 
avant  qu'il  mourut  par  une  providence  admirable  pour  le  salut  de 
cette  ame  innocente. 

17 


I' 


111:1 


i  m 


^^ii 


m 


UNFINISHED  LETTER  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE 


TO  FATHER  CLAUDE  DABLON,  SUPERIOR  OF  THE  MISSIONS^ 


CONTAINING    A 


JOURNAL  OF  HIS  LAST  VISIT  TO  THE  ILINOIS. 


MoN  Reverend  Pere — 

Pax  X«  :— 

Ay  ANT  et6  contraint  de  demeiirer  a  St.  Franqois  tout  l'est6  a  cause 
de  quelque  incommodite.  En  ayant  este  guery  dez  le  mois  de  Sep- 
tembre  j'y  attendois  I'arrivee  de  nos  gens  au  retour  de  la  bas  pour 
89avoir  ce  qu  ie  ferois  pour  mon  hyvernement ;  lesquels  m'apporter- 
ent  les  ordres  pour  mon  voyage  a  la  mission  de  le  Conception  des 
Ilinois.  Ayant  satisfait  aux  sentiments  de  Y.  R.  pour  les  copies  de 
mon  ioumal  touchant  la  Riviere  de  Missisipi  je  partis  avec  Pierre 

Porteret  et  Jacque ,  le  25  Oct.,  1674,  sur  les  midy  le  vent  nous 

contraignit  de  coucher  a  la  sortie  de  la  riviere  ou  les  Ptite8atamis 
s'assembloient,  les  anciens  n'ayant  pas  voulu  qu'on  allast  du  costez 
des  Ilinois,  de  peur  que  la  jeunesse  amassant  des  robbes  avec  les 
marchandises  qu'ils  ont  apportez  de  la  bas,  et  chassant  au  castor  ne 
voulut  descendre  le  printemps  qu'ils  croient  avoir  suiet  de  craindre 
les  Nad8essi. 

26  Oct.  Passant  au  village  nous  n*y  trouvasmes  plus  que  deux 
cabannes  qui  partoient  pour  aller  hyverner  a  la  Gasparde,  nous  ap- 
prismes  que  5  canots  de  PBtetiatamis  et  4  d'llinois  estoient  partis 
pour  aller  aux  Kaskaskia. 

27.  Nous  fusmes  arrestez  le  matin  par  la  pluye,  nous  eusmes  beau 
temps  et  calme  I'apresdisnce  que  nous  rencontrasmes  dans  Tanco  a 
Pesturgeon  les  sauvages  qui  marchoient  devant  nous. 


1)1 


DISCOVERIES    IN  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


259 


28.  On  arrive  au  portage,  un  canot  qui  avoit  pris  le  devant  est 
cause  (que)  qu'on  ne  tue  point  de  gibier ;  nous  comnien9ons  notre 
portage  et  allons  coucher  de  Tautre  bord,  ou  le  mauvais  temps  nous 
fist  bien  de  la  peine.  Pierre  n'arrive  qu'a  une  heure  dv  nuit  s'es- 
garant  par  d'un  sentier  ou  il  n'avoit  iamais  este,  apres  lu  pluye  et  la 
tonnerre,  il  tombe  de  la  neige. 

29.  Ayant  este  contraint  de  changer  de  cabannage,  on  continue  de 
porter  les  paquets,  le  portage  a  pres  d'une  lieiie  et  assez  incommode 
en  plusieurs  endroits,  les  Ilinois  s'estant  assembles  le  soir  dans  notre 
cabanne  demandent  qu'on  ne  les  quitte  pas,  comme  nous  pouvions 
avoir  besoin  d'eux  et  qu'ils  connoisseut  mieux  le  lac  que  nous,  on 
leur  promet. 

30.  Les  femmes  Ilinoises  achevent  le  matin  notre  portage  ;  on  est 
arreste  par  le  vent,  il  n'y  a  point  de  bestes. 

31.  On  parte  par  un  assez  beau  temps  et  I'on  vieut  coucher  a  une 
petite  riviere.  Le  chemin  do  I'ance  a  I'esturgeon  par  terre  est  tres 
difficile,  nous  n'en  marchions  pas  loing  Tautomne  passee,  lorsque 
nous  entrasmes  dans  le  bois. 

Nov.  1.  Ayant  dit  la  Ste.  Messe  on  vient  coucher  dans  une  riviere, 
d'ou  Ton  va  aux  PSteSatamis  par  un  beau  chemin.  Chachag8essi8 
Ilinois  fort  considere  parmy  sa  nation,  a  raison  en  partie  qu'il  se 
mesle  des  affaires  de  la  traitte  arrive  la  nuit  avec  un  chevreux  sur 

son  dns,  dont  il  nous  fait  part. 

2.  La  Ste.  Messe  dit,  nous  marchons  toute  la  iournee  par  un  fort 

beau  temps,  on  tiie  deux  chats  qui  n'ont  quasi  que  de  la  graisse. 

3.  Comme  i'estois  par  terre  marchant  sur  le  beau  sable  tout  le 
bordde  I'eau  estoit  d'herbes  semblables  a  celle  qu'on  pesche  aux  retz 
St.  Ignace,  mais  ne  pouvant  passer  une  riviere,  nos  gens  y  entrent 
pour  m'embarquer,  mais  on  n'en  put  sorter  a  cause  de  la  lame,  tons 
les  autres  canots  passent  a  la  reserve  d'un  seul  qui  vient  avec  nous. 

4.  On  est  arreste.  Ily  a  apparence  qu'il  y  a  quelque  isle  au  large 
le  gibier  y  passant  le  soir. 

5.  Nous  eusmes  assez  de  peine  de  sorter  de  la  riviere  sur  le 
midy'on  trouva  les  sauvages  dans  une  riviere,  ou  ie  pris  occasion 
d'instruire  les  Ilinois,  a  raison  d'un  festin  que  NatiaskingfcSe  venoit  de 
faire  a  une  peau  de  loup. 

6.  On  fist  une  belle  iournee,  les  sauvages  estant  a  la  chasse  de- 
couvrirent  quelques  pistes  d'hommes  ce  qui  oblige  d'arrester  le  len- 
demain. 

9.  On  mit  a  terre  sur  les  2  heures  a  cause  d'un  beau  cabannage, 


I'll  I 


M 


260 


NARRATIVE  OF   FATIIKB  MARQUETTE. 


ou  Ton  fust  arreste  5  iours,  a  cause  de  la  grande  agitation  du  lac 
sans  aucun  vent,  ensuitte  par  la  neige,  qui  fust  le  lendemain  fondue 
par  le  soleil  et  un  vent  du  large. 

15.  Apres  avoir  fait  assez  de  chemin  on  cabanne  dans  un  bel  en- 
droit  ou  Ton  est  arreste  3  iours  Pierre  raccommode  le  fusil  d'un  sau* 
vage,  neige  tonibe  la  nuit  et  fonde  le  iour. 

20.  On  couche  aux  ecors  assez  mal  cabannez  les  sauvages  de- 
meurent  derriere  durant  qu'on  est  arreste  du  vent  2  iours  et  demy 
Pierre  allant  dans  le  bois  trouve  la  prairie  a  20  lieiies  du  portngo,  il 
passe  aussi  sur  un  beau  canal  comme  eji  voute,  liaut  de  la  hauteur 
d'un  homme,  ou  il  y  avoit  un  pied  d'eau. 

23.  Estant  cmbarque  sur  le  midy  nous  eusmcs  assez  de  peine  de 
gagner  une  riviere,  le  froid  commenga  par  Test  et  plus  d'un  pied  de 
neige  couvrit  la  terre  qui  est  tuusiours  depuis  demeure  ou  fust 
arreste  la  3  iours  durant  lesquels  Pierre  tua  un  chevreux,  3  outardes, 
et  3  cocqs  d'inde,  qui  estoient  fort  bons,  les  autres  passerent  iusques 
aux  prairies,  un  sauvage  ayant  descouvcrt  quelquos  cabaiines  nous 
vint  trouver,  Jacques  y  alia  le  lendemnin  avec  luy,  2  chasseurs  me 
vinrent  aussi  voir,  c'estoient  des  Masktitens  au  nombre  de  8  ou  9 
cabannes,  lesqueljes  s'estoient  separoz  les  uns  des  autres  pour  pou- 
voir  vivre,  avec  des  fatigues  presque  impossibles  a  des  frangois  ils 
marchent  tout  I'hyver,  dans  des  chemins  tres  diflficiles,  les  lerres 
estant  pleines  de  ruisseaux,  de  petits  lacs  et  de  ma  rests,  ils  sont  tres 
mal  cabannez,  et  mangent  ou  ieusnenl  seloii  les  lieux  ou  ils  sc  ren- 
contrent ;  estant  arrestez  par  le  vent  nous  remarquasmes  qu'il  y 
avoit  de  graiides  battures  au  large  uu  la  lame  hrisoieiit  continuelle- 
ment ;  ce  fust  la  que  ie  setitis  quelques  atteintes  d'un  flux  de  ventre. 

27.  Nous  eusmes  assez  de  peine  de  sorlir  de  la  riviere  et  ayant 
fait  environ  3  lieiies  nous  trouv^asmes  les  sauvages  qui  avoient  tuez 
des  boBufs  et  3  llinois  qui  estoif'iit  vi-uu  du  village,  nous  fusnies  ar- 
restez la  d'un  vent  de  terre,  des  lames  prodigieuses  qui  venoient  du 
large,  et  du  froid. 

Decembre  1.  On  devance  les  sauvages  pour  pouvoir  dire  la  Ste. 
Mcsse. 

3.  Ayant  dit  la  Ste.  Messe,  estant  emharque  nous  fusmes  con- 
traint  de  gagner  une  pointe  pour  pouvoir  mettre  n  terre  a  cause  des 
bourguignons. 

4.  Nous  partismes  heiireusement  pnnr  venir  a  la  riviere  dn  portage 
^ui  estoil  gelee  d'un  dei)iy  pit'd,  ou  il  y  avoit  plus  de  neige  que  par- 
lout  ailleurs,  comme  aus«i   plus  de  pistes  de  b«*8tps  et  de  cocqs  d'ln- 


DISCOVERreS   IN  THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


2C1 


>is  ils 


ortago 
je  par- 
8  fl'In- 


de.  La  navigation  du  lac  est  assez  belle  d'un  portage  a  I'autre, 
n'y  ayant  aucuno  traverse  a  faire  ct  pouvant  mettre  a  terre  partout, 
moyennant  qu'on  ne  soit  point  opiniastre  a  vouloir  marcher  dans  lea 
lames  et  de  grand  vent.  Les  terres  qui  le  bordent  ne  valent  rien, 
excepte  quand.on  est  aux  prairies,  on  trouve  8  ou  10  rivieres  assez 
belles,  la  chaise  du  chevreux  est  tres  belle  a  mesure  qu'on  s'esloigne 
des  PtiteHatamis. 

12.  Comme  on  commenqoit  hir  a  traisner  pour  approcher  du 
portage  les  Ilinois  ayant  quiltez  les  P8te8atamis  arriverent  avec 
bien  de  la  peine.  Nous  ne  pusmes  dire  la  Ste.  Messe  le  iour  de  la 
Conception  a  cause  du  mauvais  temps  et  du  froid,  durant  notre  seiour 
a  I'entree  de  la  riviere  Pierre  et  Jacques  tuerent  3  boeufs  et  4  chev- 
reux dont  un  courut  assez  loing  ayant  le  coeur  coupe  en  2  on  se  con- 
tente  de  tuer  3  ou  4  cocqs  d'inde  de  plusieurs  qui  venoient  autour 
de  notre  cabanne,  parcequ'ils  mouroient  quasi  de  faim  ;  Jacques  ap- 
porta  un  perdrix  qu'il  avoit  tuez,  semblable  en  tout  a  celles  de  France, 
excepte  qu'elle  avoit  comme  deux  aislerons  de  3  ou  4  aisles  longues 
d'un  doigt  proche  de  la  teste,  dont  elles  couvrent  les  2  costez  du  col 
ou  il  n'y  a  point  de  plume. 

M.  Estant  cabannez  proche  le  portage  a  2  lieues  dans  la  riviere 
nous  resolusmes  d'hyverner  la,  estant  dans  Timpossibilite  de  passer 
outre,  estant  trop  embarasse,  et  mon  incommodite  ne  me  pennettant 
pas  de  boaucoup  fatiguer.  Plusieurs  Ilinois  passerent  hier  pour  aller 
porter  leur  pelleterie  a  Na8asking8e,  ausquels  on  donne  un  bceufs  et 
un  chevreux  que  Jacque  avoit  tuc  le  iour  auparavant  ie  ne  pense  pas 
avoir  veu  de  sauvage  plus  afTame  de  petun  Francois  qu'eux,  ils  vin- 
rent  ietter  a  nos  pieds  des  castors  pour  en  avoir  quelque  bout  mais 
nour  leur  rendismes  en  leur  en  donnant  quelque  pipe,  parceque  nous 
n'avions  pas  encore  conclu  si  nous  passerions  outre. 

15.  Chachag8essi8  et  les  autres  Ilinois  nous  quitterent  pour  aller 
trouver  leur  gens,  et  leur  donner  les  marchandises  qu'ils  avoient  ap- 
portez  pour  avoir  leur  robbes  en  quoy  ils  se  gouvernent  comme  des 
traitteurs  et  ne  donnent  guere  plus  que  les  Francois ;  ie  les  instruisis 
avant  leur  depart,  remettant  au  printemps  de  tenir  conseil  quand  ie 
serois  au  village  ;  ils  nous  traitterent  3  belles  robbes  de  boeuf  pour 
une  coudee  de  petun,  lesquelles,  nous  ont  beaucoup  servi  cet  hyver, 
estant  ainsi  desbarassez,  nous  dismes  la  Messe  de  la  Conception ; 
depuis  le  14  mon  incommodite  se  tourna  en  flux  de  sang. 

30.  Jacque  arriva  du  village  des  Ilinois  qui  n'estoit  qu'a  six  lieues 
d'icy  ou  ils  avoient  faim  le  froid  et  la  neige  les  emp eschant  de  chas- 


262 


NABBATIYE  OF  FATUEB  MABQUETTE. 


ser,  quelques  una  ayant  adverti  la  Toupine  et  le  chirurgien  que  nous 
estions  icy  et  ne  pouvant  quitter  leur  cabanne  avoient  tellement  don- 
nez  la  peur  aux  sauvages  croyant  que  nous  aurions  faiin  demeurant 
icy  que  Jacque  eust  bien  de  la  peine  d'empescher  15  jeunes  gons  de 
venir  pour  emporter  toute  nostie  affaire. 

Janvier  16,  1675.  Aussitot  que  les  2  fran9oi8  sceurent  que  mon 
mal  mempeschoit  d^Lller  ckez  eux  le  chirurgien  vint  icy  avec  un 
sauvage  pour  nous  apporter  des  bluets  et  du  bled ;  ils  ne  sent  que  18 
lieiies  d'icy  dans  un  beau  lieu  de  chasse,  pour  les  boeufs  et  les  chev- 
reux  et  les  cocqs  d'inde  qui  y  sont  excellents,  ills  avoient  aussi  amas- 
sez  des  vivres  en  nous  attendant ;  et  avoient  fait  entendre  aux  sau- 
vages que  leur  cabanne  estoit  a  la  Robbe  noire,  et  on  pent  dire  qu'ils 
ont  fLit  et  dit  tout  ce  qu'on  pent  attendre  d'eux :  le  chirurgien  ayant 
icy  seioume  pour  faire  ses  devotions :  j'envoiay  Jacque  avec  luy 
pour  dire  aux  Ilinois  qui  estoient  proche  de  la,  que  mon  incommodite 
m'empeschoit  de  les  aller  voir  et  que  iaurois  mesme  de  la  peine 
d'yaller  le  printemps  si  elle  continuoit. 

24.  Jacque  retourna,  avec  un  sac  de  bled  et  d'autres  rafraichisse- 
ment  que  les  Francois  luy  avoient  donnez  pour  moy :  il  apporta 
aussi  les  langues  et  de  la  viande  de  deux  bcpufs  qu'un  sauvage  et 
luy  avoient  tuez  proche  d*icy ;  mais  toutes  les  bestes  se  sentent  de 
mauvais  temps. 

26.  3  Ilinois  nous  apporterent  de  la  part  des  Anciens  2  sacs  de 
bled,  de  la  viande  seche,  des  citrouilles  et  12  castors,  1°,  pour  me 
faire  une  natte,  2°,  pour  me  demander  de  la  poudre,  3",  pour  que  nous 
n'eussions  faim,  4°,  pour  avoir  quelque  peu  de  marchandises ;  ie  leur 
repondis  1"S  que  i'estois  venu  pour  les  instruire,  en  leur  parlant  de  la 
priere,  &c.  2"^  que  ie  ne  leur  donnerois  point  de  poudre,  puisque 
nous  taschions  de  mettre  partout  la  paix,  et  que  ie  ne  voulois  qu'ils 
commen9assent  la  guerre  avec  les  Miamis.  3"^  que  nous  n'appre- 
hendions  point  le  faim.  4°^  que  iencouragerois  les  fran9cois  a  leur 
apporter  des  marchandises,  et  qu'il  falloit  qu'ils  satisfissent  ceux  qui 
estoient  chez  eux  pour  la  rassade  qu'on  leur  avoit  pris,  dez  que  le 
chirurgien  fust  party  pour  venir  icy.  Comme  ils  estoient  venus  de 
20  lieiis,  pour  les  payer  do  leur  peine  et  de  ce  qu'ils  m'avoient  ap- 
portez  ie  Jeur  donnay  une  hache,  2  couteaux,  3  iambettes,  10  brasses 
de  rassade  et  2  mirouirs  doubles,  et  leur  disant  qui  ie  tascherois  d'al- 
ler  au  village  seulement  pour  quelques  iours  si  mon  incommodite 
continuoit,  ils  me  dirent  de  prendre  courage  de  demeurer  et  de 
mourir  daus  leur  pays  et  qu'on  leur  avoit  dit  que  i'y  resterois  pour 
longtemps. 


WSCOVKItrES   IN  THE   MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 


268 


Fevrier  9.  Depuis  que  nous  nous  sommes  addresscz  a  la  Ste. 
Vierge  Immaculee  que  nous  avons  commencez  une  neufvaino  par 
tine  messe  a  laquelle  Pierre  et  Jacque  qui  font  tout  ce  qu'ils  peu- 
vent  pour  me  soulager,  ont  comniunics  pour  demander  a  Dieu  la 
sante,  mon  flux  de  sang  m'a  quitte,  il  ne  me  rcste  qu'un  foiblesso  d'es- 
tomac,  ie  commence  a  meporter  beaucoup  mieux  ct  a  reprendre  mcs 
forces :  il  ne  cabanne  d'llinois  qui  s'estoit  rangee  proche  de  nous 
depuis  un  mois  une  partie  out  repris  le  chemin  des  PUt  et  quelques 
uns  sont  encore  au  bord  du  lac  ou  ils  attendant  que  la  navigation 
soit  libre,  ils  emportent  des  lettres  pour  nos  P.  P.  de  St.  Francois. 

20.  Nous  avons  eu  le  temps  de  remarquer  les  mareez  qui  vien- 
nent  du  lac  lesquels  haussent  et  baissent  plusieurs  fois  par  iour  et 
quoyqu'il  n'y  paraisse  aucune  abry  dans  le  lac,  on  a  veu  les  glaces 
aller  contre  le  vent,  ces  mareez  nous  rendoient  I'eau  bonne  ou  mau* 
vaisse  parceque  celle  qui  vient  d'en  hault  coule  des  prairies  ct  de 
petits  ruisseaux,  lestchevreux  qui  sont  enquantite  vers  le  bord  du  lac 
sont  si  maigres  qu'on  a  este  contraint  d'en  laisser  quelques  uns  de 
ce  qu'on  avoit  tuez. 

Mars  23.  On  tue  plusieurs  perdrix  dont  il  n'y  a  que  les  mals  qui 
ayant  des  aislerons  au  col,  les  femellcs  u'en  ayant  point,  ces  perdrix 
sont  assez  bonnes  mais  non  pas  comme  celle  de  France. 

30.  Le  vent  de  nord  ayant  empesche  le  degeal  jusques  au  25  do 
Mars  il  commen9a  par  un  vent  de  sud,  dez  le  lendemain  le  gibier 
commenqa  de  paroistre,  on  tua  30  tourtres  que  ie  trouvay  meilleures 
que  celles  de  la  bas,  mais  plus  petites,  tant  les  vieilles  que  les 
ieunes ;  le  28  les  glaces  se  rompirent  et  s'arresterent  au  dessus  de 
nous,  le  29  les  eaux  crurent  si  fort  que  nous  n'eusmes  que  le  temps 
de  descabanner  au  plutot,  mettre  nos  affaires  sur  des  arbres  et 
tascher  de  chercher  a  coucher  sur  quelque  but  I'eau  nous  gagnant 
presque  toute  la  nuit,  mais  ayant  un  peu  gele  et  estant  diminue  com- 
me nous  estions  aupres  de  nos  paquets,  la  digue  vient  de  se  rompre 
et  les  glaces  a  s'escouler  et  parceque  les  eaux  remontent  desia  nous 
aliens  nous  embarquer  pour  continuer  notre  route. 

La  Ste.  Vierge  Immaculee  a  pris  un  tel  soin  de  nous  durant  notre 
hyvernement  que  rien  ne  nous  a  mauque  pour  les  vivres,  ayant  en- 
core un  grand  sac  de  bled  de  reste,  de  la  viande  et  de  la  graisse ; 
nous  avons  aussi  vescu  fort  doucement,  mon  mal  ne  m'ayant  point 
empesche  de  dire  la  Ste.  Messe  tous  les  iours  ;  nous  n'avons  point 
pu  garder  du  caresme  que  les  Vendredys  et  samedys. 

31.  Estant  hier  party  nous  fismes  3  lieiies  dans  la  riviere  en  re- 


S64 


KABBATIYB  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTB. 


montant  sans  trouver  aucun  portage,  on  traisna  peut  estre  environ 
un  demy  arpant  outre  cette  descharge,  la  riviere  en  a  une  autre 
par  ou  nous  debvons  descendre.  II  n'y  a  que  les  terres  bien  hautes 
qui  ne  soient  point  inondeez,  celle  ou  nous  sommes  a  cru  plus  do 
12  pieds  a-ce  fut  d'icy  que  nous  commen^aHmes  notre  portage  ily  a 
18  mois;  les  outardes  et  les  canards  passent  continuellement ;  on 
■'est  contente  de  7,  les  glaces  qui  derivent  encore  nous  font  icy 
demeureur  ne  sachant  pas  en  quel  estat  est  le  bas  de  la  riviere. 

Avril  1.  Comme  ie  ne  scais  point  encore  si  ie  demeuroray  cet 
este  au  village  ou  non  a  cause  de  mon  flux  de  ventre,  nous  laissons 
icy  une  partie  de  ce  dont  nous  pouvons  nous  passer  et  surtoiit  un  sac 
de  bled,  tandis  qu'un  grand  vent  de  sud  nous  arreste,  nous  esperons 
allerdemain  ou  sunt  les  Fran9oi8,  distant  de  15  lieues  d'icy. 

6.  Les  grands  vents  et  le  froid  nous  empeschent  de  marcher.  Les 
deux  lacs  par  ou  nous  avons  passex  soiit  plains  d'oiitardes,  d'oyes,  de 
canards,  de  grues  et  d'autres  gibiers  que  nous  ne  connoissons  point. 
Les  rapides  sont  assez  dangereux  en  quelques  endroits,  nous  venons 
de  rencontrer  le  chirurgien  avec  un  sauvage  qui  montoit  avec  une 
canottee  de  pelleterie,  mais  le  froid  estant  trop  grand  pour  des  per- 
sonnes  qui  sont  obligez  de  traisner  les  canots  dans  I'cau,  il  vient  de 
faire  cache  de  son  castor  et  retourne  demain  au  village  avec  nous. 
Si  les  Frangois  ont  des  robbes  de  ce  pays  icy,  ils  ne  les  desrob- 
bent  pas  tant  les  fatigues  sont  grands  pour  les  on  titer. 


LA  SALLE'S  PATENT  OF  NOBILITY. 

(Paris  Doo.  in  Secy's.  Office,  Albany,  vol.  ii.  pp.  8-11,) 

Donn6es  i,  Compeigne  le  13  May,  1675. 
Louis,  par  la  grace  de  Dieu  Roy  de  France  et  de  Navarre,  k  tous 
presons  et  ii  venir  saint.  Les  Roys  nos  predecesscurs  ayant  tou- 
jours  estinie  que  I'honneur  etait  le  plus  puissant  motif  pour  porter 
leurs  sujets  aux  genereuses  actions,  ils  ont  pris  soin  de  reconnaitre 
par  des  marques  d'honneur  ceux  qu'une  vertu  extraordinaire  en 
avait  rendu  dignes,  et  comme  nous  sommes  inform^s  des  bonnes 
actions  que  font  journelleraent  les  peuples  de  Canada,  soit  en  reduiso 
ant  ou  disciplinant  les  sauvages,  soit  en  se  defendant  contre  leurs 
frequentes  insultes,  et  celles  de  Iroquois  et  enfin  en  meprisant  les 
plus  grands  perils  pour  ^tendre  jusques  au  bout  de  ce  nouveau 
monde,  nostre  nom  et  nostre  empire,  nous  avons  estime  qu'il  es- 
tait  de  nostre  justice  de  distinguer  par  des  recompences  d'honneur 
ceux  qui  se  sont  le  plus  signalez  pour  exciter  les  autres  4  meriter  de 
semblables  graces,  a  ces  causes,  desirant  traiter  favorablement  nos- 
ire  cher  et  bien  aime  Robert  Cavelier  sieur  de  la  Salle  pour  le  bon  et 
louable  rapport  qui  nous  a  ete  fait  des  bonnes  actions  qu'il  a  faite 
dans  le  pays  do  Canada  oil  il  s'est  estably  depuis  quelques  ann6es  et 
pour  autres  considerations  si  ce  nous  mouvans,  et  de  notre  grace 
speciale,  pleine  puissance,  et  autorite  royale,  nous  avons  annobiy,  et 
par  ces  presentes  signees  de  nostre  main  annoblissons,  et  decorons 
dii  litre  et  qualite  de  noblesse  le  d.  Sr.  Cavalier,  ensemble  sa 
femme  et  enfans  posterite  et  lignee  tant  males  que  femelles  nes  et  iL 
naitre  en  loyal  mariage  ;  Voulons  et  nous  plait  qu'en  tous  actes  tar'. 
en  jugement  que  dehors  ils  soient  tenus,  censes  et  reputes  nobles  pov  - 
tant  la  qualite  d'escuyer,  et  puissant  parvenir  k  tous  degres  de  chev- 
allerie  et  de  gendarmerie,  acquerir,  tenir,  et  posseder  toutes  sortes  dc 


266 


LA.  SALLE'8   patent  OP  NOBILITT. 


fiefs  et  seigneuries  et  heritages  nobles  de  quelque  litre  et  qualite 
qu'ils  soient,  et  qu'ils  jouissent  de  tons  honneurs,  autorites,  prerog- 
atives, preeminences,  privileges,  franchises,  exemptions  et  immu- 
nites,  dont  jouissent  et  ont  accoutume  de  jouir  et  user  les  autres 
nobles  de  nostre  Royaume  et  de  porter  tolles  armes  qu'elles  sont  cy 
empraintes,  sans  ce  que  pour  ce  le  dit  Robert  Cavelier  soil  tenu  nous 
payer,  ny  a  nos  successeurs  Roys,  aucune  finance  ni  indemnite,  dont 
a  quelque  somme  qu'elles  se  puissent  monter,  nous  I'avons  decharge, 
et  dechargeons  et  lui  avons  fait  et  faisons  don  par  cesdites  presentes, 
le  tout  par  les  causes  et  raisons  portees  en  I'arrest  de  notre  concil  de 
cejourdhui  donne  nous  y  etant  dont  copie  demeurera  cy  attaches 
sous  le  contreseil  de  nostre  chancellerie.  Si  donnouns  en  mande- 
ment  a  nos  aimes  et  feaux  con*"  les  gens  tenants  nostre  cour  de 
parlement  de  Paris,  chambre  des  comptes,  cour  des  aydes  au  dit  lieu 
que  ces  presentes  lettres  d'  annoblissement  ils  ayent  a  registrer,  et 
du  contenu  en  icelles.faire  souffrir  et  laisser  jouir  et  user  le  dit  Robert 
Cavelier,  ses  Enfans  et  posterite  nes  et  k  naitre  en  loyal  mariage, 
pleinement,  paisiblement  et  perpetuellement,  cessant  et  faisant  cesser 
tous  troubles  et  empeschemens  nonobstant  tous  Edits  et  declarations, 
arrests,  reglemens,  et  autres  choses  a  ce  contraries,  aux  quels  nous 
avons  deroge  et  derogons  par  ces  presente  car  tel  est  notre  plaisir. 
Et  afin  que  ce  soit  chose  ferme  stable  et  k  toujours,  nous  y  avons 
fait  mettre  nostre  sc6l.  Donne  a  compeigne  le  13  May,  Tan  de 
grace  mil  six  cens  soixante  quinze,  et  de  nostre  regne  le  trento- 
troisieme. 


'  / 


LA.  BALLETS  PATENT  OF  NOBIUTT. 


267 


LA  SALLE'S  SECOND  COMMISSION. 


(Same  vol.,  p.  275.) 


A  Versailles,  le  14  Avril,  1684. 

Louis,  par  la  grace  de  Dieu  Roy  de  France  ot  de  Nauarre,  Salut. 
Ayant  resolu  de  faire  quelques  entreprises  dans  I'Amerique  Septen- 
trionale  pour  assujetir  sons  nostra  domination  plusieurs  nations 
sauvages,  et  leur  porter  les  lumi^res  de  la  foy  et  de  I'evangile,  nous 
avons  cru  que  nous  ne  pouvions  faire  un  meilleur  choix  que  du  sieur 
de  la  Salle,  pour  coinm-under  en  nostre  noin  tous  les  Fran9ais  et 
sauvages  qu'il  employera  pour  I'execution  des  ordres  dont  nous 
I'avons  charge.  A  ces  causes,  et  autres  k  ce  nous  mouvans,  et  etant 
d'ailleurs  bien  informez  de  son  affection  et  de  sa  fidelite  a  nostre 
service.  Nous,  avons  le  d.  Sr.  de  la  Salle  commis  et  ordonne,  com- 
mettons  et  ordonnons  par  ces  presentes  signees  de  nostre  main,  pour 
sous  nostre  auiorite  commander  tant  dans  les  pays  qui  seront  assu- 
jettis  de  nouveau  sous  nostre  domination  dans  I'Amerique  Septen* 
trionale,  depuis  le  fort  St.  Louis  sur  la  Riviere  des  Illinois  jusques  ill 
la  Nouvelle  Biscaye,  qu'aux  Fran9ois  et  sauvages  qu'il  employera 
dans  les  entreprises  dont  nous  I'avons  charge,  les  faire  vivre  en 
union  et  concorde  les  uns  avec  les  autres,  contenir  les  gens  de 
guerre  en  bon  ordre  et  police,  suivant  nos  Reglement,  ^tablir  des 
Gouverneurs  et  commandans  par«"  dans  les  lieux  qu'il  jugera  a  pro- 
pos,  jusques  a  cesqu'  autrement  par  nous  en  ait  ete  ordonnd,  main- 
tenir  le  commerce  et  traffic,  generalement  faire  et  exercer  tout  ce  qui 
pourra  etre  du  fait  de  commandant  pour  nous  esd.  pays,  et  en  jouir 
aux  pouvoirs,  honneurs,  autorites,  libert^s,  prerogatives  preemin< 
ences,  franchises,  libertes,  gages,  droits,  finites,  proffits,  revenues,  et 
emolumens,  tant  qu'il  nous  plaira. 

De  ce  faire  vous  avons  donne  et  donnons  pouvoir  par  ces  d.  pre- 
sentes par  lesquelles  mandons  a  tous  nos  d.  sujets  et  gens  de  guerre 
de  vous  reconnoistre,  obeir,  et  entendre  en  choses  concernant  le  pre* 
sent  pouvoir.    Car  tel  est  nostre  plaisir. 

En  temoin  dequoi  nous  avons  fait  mettre  nostre  seel  secret  i  ces 
d.  presentes.     Donnees  d  Versailles,  lo  14  Avril,  1684. 


COMPARATIVE  TABLE 

Of  the  Names  on  the  Mwp  published  hy  Thevenotj  as  Mar- 
quette\  and  on  his  lieal  Map  annexed* 


Tkevmot. 

Marquette. 

Uttual  Form. 

Mouingwena 

Moingwena 

Moingonan 

Pe-wanea 

Pe-warea 

Pe-oria 

Tillini-wek 

Ilinois 

AUiniwek  and  Illinois 

Missi-ousing 

Miscousing 

Wisconsin 

Cach-ouach-wia 

Kachkaskia 

Kaskaskia 

Manoutensac 

Maskoutens 

Kamissi 

Kanza 

Autrechaha 

Ouchage 

Osage 

Ou-mis80uri 

We-messouret 

Missouri 

Ahiahichi 

Aiaichi 

Ayiches 

Tamisa 

Tanik-wa 

Tonica 

Matoua 

Matora 

Ototchassi 

Atotchasi 

Southouis 

Monsouperea 

Monsoupelea 

Wabouquigou 

Wabous-quigou 

Wabash 

Kakinouba 

Kakinonba 

?  Kanawha 

The  following  names  are  on  Marquette  alone :  — 

Pahoutet 

Maha 

Omaha 

Pana 

Otontanta 

Anthoutanta  (Le  Clercq) 

Akoroa 

Koroa 

•".  •  '' 

Papikaha 

?  Quapaw 

Apistonga 

Maroa 

Tamaroa 

The  following  are 

on  Thevenot  alone : 

— 

Kithigami,  Minonk, 

Aganahali,  Wabunghiharea,  Taharea. 

It  will  be  observed  that  on  the  real  map  the  part  of  Michigan  then 

unexplored,  is  dotted  only,  and  that  the 

Mississippi  descends  only 

to  Akansea,  the  limit  of  his  discovery. 

AP/S 


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